A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   VENICE 


/ 


A  SHORT 

HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


BY 


WILLIAM   ROSCOE   THAYER 

AUTHOR  OF  "the  DAWN  OF  ITALIAN  INDEPENDENCE," 

"throne-makers,"  etc. 
member  of  the  massachusetts  historical  society, 

CAVALIERE  dell'  ORDINE  DELLA  CORONA 

d'italia,  etc. 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

(3Ebe  J^iteri^iDe  pte^^y  Cambritioe 

1908 

All  rights  reserved 


COPTKIGHT,    1905, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  April,  1905. 


V-\vs\t,<V.M--  S^ AVe^ 


PRINTED  IN 

UNITED   STATES 

OF  AMERICA 


En  ilHemorg  of 
MY    MOTHER 


994925 


PREFACE 

No  other  people  has  been  the  victim  of  more 
misconceptions  than  the  Venetians.  They  have 
been  praised  for  qualities  they  did  not  possess  and 
blamed  for  crimes  they  did  not  commit.  Roman- 
cers and  poets  have  unwittingly  belied  them; 
enemies  have  traduced;  historians  have  turned 
partisans  for  or  against  them.  It  seems  as  if 
posterity  were  in  league  never  to  understand  them. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  the  history  of 
Venice  has  suffered  in  this  way.  First  of  all,  its 
duration  renders  it  difficult  to  make  plain  its  con- 
tinuity amid  the  transformations  of  a  thousand 
years.  The  life  of  Venice  begins  with  the  inva- 
sion of  Attila;  it  was  just  ending  when  George 
Washington  retired  from  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States.  Next,  the  noble  part  which  the 
Venetians  played  in  the  world,  as  intermediaries 
between  Western  Christendom  and  the  Orient  and 
as  merchants  during  the  era  when  the  trade  of  sol- 
dier was  deemed  the  most  respectable,  has  rarely 
been  sufficiently  magnified.  Historians  usually 
concentrate  their  attention  on  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Roman  civilization,  or  on  the  medieval  insti- 
tutions which  replaced  it,  —  the  Church  and  the 


Vlll  PREFACE 

Empire,  with  the  Papacy  and  the  Monastic  System, 
and  with  Feudalism  —  or  on  the  origin  of  those 
nations  which,  like  the  German,  the  French,  and 
the  English,  have  dominated  the  modern  epoch. 
Venice  pursued  her  own  way  independent  of  all 
these,  and  although  she  was  in  a  large  sense  the 
product  of  the  Middle  Age,  she  was  the  least 
medieval  of  her  contemporaries.  To  them  she 
seemed  abnormally  progressive  because  she  was 
stable ;  while  moderns,  mistaking  her  stability  for 
stagnation,  have  hastily  concluded  that  she  was 
incapable  of  progress.  The  trend  of  political  evo- 
lution sets  toward  popular  government ;  the  Vene- 
tians formed  a  powerful  state  after  a  different 
plan.  They  developed  a  national  organism  per- 
fectly adapted  to  their  unique  conditions,  but  so 
opposed  to  modern  political  ideals  that  few  stu- 
dents have  investigated  it  and  fewer  still  have 
treated  it  sympathetically.  Moreover,  the  deca- 
dence of  Venice,  being  the  most  recent  part  of  her 
career,  is  the  best  known;  the  last  two  centuries 
of  excessive  luxury  and  exhaustion  have  caused  the 
five  centuries  of  hardy  growth  and  the  five  cen- 
turies of  vigorous  prime  to  be  forgotten.  But  her 
decadence  offers  nothing  peculiar  to  her;  whereas 
her  growth  and  prime  were  truly  characteristic.  By 
these  she  should  be  judged;  just  as  the  greatness 
of  Imperial  Rome  should  be  judged  by  the  achieve- 
ments of  Julius  and  Augustus  and  the  Antonines, 
and  not  by  the  failures  of  the  Valentinians. 

Assuming  that  for  the  most  part  decay  explains 


^  PREFACE  IX 

itself,  my  purpose  in  this  little  book  is  to  set  forth 
the  greatness  of  the  Venetians.  By  epitomizing 
long  stretches  of  comparatively  regular  develop- 
ment, I  have  secured  space  for  describing  in  detail 
those  episodes  through  which  the  national  spirit 
best  reveals  itself  and  those  crises  which  mark 
structural  changes  in  the  political  life.  And  since 
the  complaint  is  often  heard  that  Venice  stifled 
individuality,  I  have  taken  care  to  outline  the  por- 
traits of  many  of  the  great  men  who  wrought  out 
her  destiny.  Whoever  will  compare  her  remark- 
able doges  —  Orseolo  the  State-Builder,  Domenico 
Michiel,  Enrico  and  Andrea  Dandolo,  Pietro  Gra- 
denigo,  Tommaso  Mocenigo,  Francesco  Foscari,  Se- 
bastiano  Venier,  and  Morosini  the  Peloponnesian 
—  with  the  kings  of  France  and  of  England,  will 
recognize  that  Venice  did  not  crush  out  individu- 
ality. In  Vettor  Pisani  and  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  she 
produced  a  patriot  and  a  statesman  of  the  highest 
order,  world-heroes,  if  ever  there  were  such. 

To  the  student  of  government,  the  history  of 
Venice  affords  an  unparalleled  opportunity,  since 
it  records  the  rise,  uniform  growth,  uninterrupted 
functioning,  and  gradual  decline  of  an  important 
political  system.  We  have  no  similar  specimen 
of  republic  or  of  monarchy,  because  nowhere  else 
has  a  republic  or  a  monarchy  been  able  to  put  into 
practice  its  principles  undisturbed,  during  even  a 
brief  period.  Foreign  invasion,  internal  rebellion, 
dynastic  or  class  rivalry,  military  ambition, — these 
are  the  dislocating  influences  which  arrest  or  mod- 


X  PREFACE 

ify  or  cripple  the  orderly  development  of  nations  j 
from  these  Venice  was  singularly  free. 

But  the  very  word  "oligarchy"  sounds  so  hateful 
to  some  ears  that  more  than  one  writer  has  imputed 
to  the  Venetian  oligarchy  all  the  evils  which  over- 
took the  Republic,  including  its  decline  and  fall. 
The  true  historian,  however,  will  not  allow  himself 
to  be  fooled  by  names;  he  will  search  for  facts, 
and  though  he  be  a  stanch  democrat,  he  will  do 
full  justice  to  the  Venetian  oligarchy,  even  to  the 
point  of  regretting  that  no  democracy  has  thus  far 
come  as  near  perfection  as  the  political  system  of 
Venice  came. 

On  whichever  side  we  examine  her  institutions, 
we  find  order,  intelligence,  foresight,  and  harmony. 
The  political  worked  in  unison  with  the  commer- 
cial ;  but  it  worked  equally,  at  least  in  intent,  with 
the  social.  Venice  employed  experts  to  apply  the 
best  knowledge  of  her  age  to  government,  law, 
commerce,  business,  and  public  health;  of  what 
state  to-day  can  we  affirm  as  much  ?  She  rose  to 
that  attainment  of  balance  and  solidarity  which 
stamps  a  high  civilization.  Every  one,  noble  or 
plebeian,  lived  for  Venezia,  and  in  return  she 
shed  her  benefits  on  every  one.  If  we  assume 
that  an  oligarchy  is  necessarily  bad,  we  shall  never 
understand  her  history,  nor  the  devotion  which  all 
of  her  children  felt  for  her. 

The  example  of  the  unremitted  application  of 
intelligence  to  government  which  she  set  may  well 
be  pondered  by  nations  groping  after  a  political 


PREFACE  XI 

and  social  reorganization  which  shall  prove  stable. 
Venice  learned  to  adjust  herself  to  her  extraordi- 
nary geographical  conditions  and  to  her  complex 
political  environment.  She  solved,  satisfactorily 
to  herself,  her  social,  industrial,  and  commercial 
problems.  In  a  word,  she  found  herself,  lived  her 
own  life,  grew  to  full  stature,  and  then  slowly 
passed  away,  not  because  she  was  oligarchic,  but 
because  she  was  mortal. 

Her  career  has  this  further  lesson  for  us  to-day  : 
it  shows  that  not  numbers  but  wisdom  and  charac- 
ter make  a  people  great,  Venice  was  a  city-state. 
In  her  prime  the  capital  never  had  a  population 
of  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants; 
the  rest  of  the  Dogado,  before  the  annexation  of 
the  mainland  provinces,  probably  did  not  number 
one  hundred  thousand  more.  Yet  this  little  state 
established  a  colonial  empire  relatively  larger  than 
the  British  Empire,  and  it  carried  on  a  commerce 
relatively  more  extensive  than  the  British  has  ever 
been.  There  are,  indeed,  so  many  parallels  between 
Venice  and  England  that  I  have  not  hesitated,  in 
the  following  pages,  to  call  attention  to  them,  or 
to  cite  other  modern  instances  which  may  help  to 
interpret  the  Venetian  story.  I  have  also  tried 
to  mark  at  each  period  the  position  of  Venice  in 
respect  to  the  general  development  of  her  neigh- 
bors, and  to  the  great  currents  which  bore  Europe 
on  from  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians,  through 
Feudalism  and  Roman  Theocracy,  to  the  Reforma- 
tion and  modern  times. 


XU  PREFACE 

For  most  persons  the  final  reason  and  the  strong- 
est for  interest  in  Venice  springs  from  her  Beauty. 
The  incomparable  city  captivates  all  her  visitors; 
her  spell  of  romance  charms  even  the  dullest. 
"What  poets  dreamed  these  marvels?  what  ro- 
mancers dwelt  in  these  enchanted  halls?"  they 
ask  as  they  glide  through  the  canals  or  float  on 
the  opaline  Lagoon.  To  answer  these  questions  is 
one  of  the  objects  of  this  sketch,  which  will  show 
that  the  Venetians  were  a  practical,  earnest,  far- 
seeing,  sagacious  people,  no  day  dreamers,  but  men 
who  looked  facts  squarely  in  the  face,  mastered 
them,  and  perpetually  delighted  in  Beauty.  The 
proof  they  gave  that  a  genius  for  the  Practical 
need  not  exclude  a  genius  for  the  Beautiful  is, 
next  to  their  Art  itself,  the  most  precious  of  their 
legacies. 

In  scope  and  method,  not  less  than  in  point  of 
view,  therefore,  this  short  history  differs  from 
other  works  in  this  field.  Like  every  modern  who 
has  dealt  with  the  Venetians,  I  have  found  the 
ten  volumes  of  Komanin's  Storia  Documentata  di 
Venezia  an  invaluable  quarry.  While  Venice  was 
still  under  Austrian  domination  the  modest  Eo- 
manin  produced  his  life  work,  which  stands  a  mon- 
ument to  his  patriotism  and  scholarship.  One 
cannot  use  his  volumes  constantly  during  several 
years  without  recognizing  his  fairness.  He  frankly 
defends  Venice,  just  as  Daru  frankly  assails  her, 
and  in  so  far  he  is  partisan ;  but  the  investigations 
of  recent  historical  students  have  almost  always 


PREFACE  Xlll 

confirmed  his  judgments.  I  have  refrained  from 
overloading  my  text  with  footnotes  and  from  citing 
authorities,  but  for  the  sake  of  readers  who  wish 
to  go  deeper  into  the  subject,  I  have  added  a  short 
list  of  the  more  important  books. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  express  my  gratitude  for 
various  assistance  during  the  preparation  of  this 
little  book, — to  Professor  Charles  Eliot  Norton,  for 
much  friendly  criticism ;  to  Professor  Albert  Bush- 
nell  Hart,  for  reading  a  part  of  the  manuscript ;  to 
Captain  A.  T.  Mahan  and  to  Professor  Pompeo 
Molmenti,  —  who  is  easily  first  among  those  now 
living  who  know  Venice  in  all  her  aspects,  —  for 
replies  to  special  questions;  and  to  the  Harvard 
College  Library,  which  sets  the  world  an  example 
in  laying  open  its  treasures  to  scholars. 


W.  R.  T. 


Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
January  21, 1905. 


CONTENTS 


PAfiB 

Prefack vii 

List  OF  Maps xvii 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Beginnings,  421-810        ....  1 

11.  Building  the  State,  810-1096       ...  25 

III.  Venice  and  the  Crusades,  1096-1205  .        .  45 

IV.  Imperial     Growth  —  The     Great     Rival, 

1205-64 71 

V.  Fixing  the  Constitution,  1264-1310     .         .       96 

VL  Perils  of  the  New  Regime,  1310-60    .         .     117 

VII.  The  Teath  Grapple  with  Genoa,  1360-80.     135 

VIII.  The  Parting  of  the  Ways,  1380-1453          .     159 

IX.  The  Crisis  of  Cambrai,  1453-1525        .         .     189 

X.  Venetian  Civilization  :  Institutions   .        .     212 

XI.  Venetian  Civilization  :  Life  and  Art        .    228 

XIL  The  Loss  of  Cyprus,  1525-90         .         .        .250 

XIII.  Sarpi,  1590-1623 .264 

XIV.  Decline  and  Fall,  1623-1797        .         .        .293 
XV.  Epilogue  .        .         .         .         .         .        .        .     318 

Chronology  and  List  of  Doges        ....     331 

Bibliography 343 

Index 346 

XV 


Venice 


LIST   OF  MAPS 

Frontispiece 


Venice  and  the  Lagoons  . 
Imperial  Venice 
Possessions  on  Terra  Firma 
The  Heart  of  Venice 


PAGE 

.  25 

.  76 

.  160 

.  233 


k  ' 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


CHAPTER  I  . 

THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era,  the  north- 
western shore  of  the  Adriatic,  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Piave  on  the  north,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Bac- 
chiglione  in  the  south,  some  fifty  miles'  distance, 
was  formed  by  long,  narrow  strips  of  sand.  They 
enclosed  a  lagoon,  twelve  miles  across  in  its  broad- 
est part,  dotted  with  innumerable  islets,  and  threaded 
by  channels,  sinuous  and  variable,  through  which 
the  silt-burdened  streams  of  the  mainland  wound 
slowly  to  the  sea.  At  low  tide,  the  shallows  of  the 
Lagoon  lay  bare.  Sometimes,  after  the  great  rains, 
the  rivers  rose  and  flooded  all  but  the  highest  of  the 
islands;  or  the  southwest  gale,  blowing  long  and 
furiously  up  the  Adriatic,  drove  the  heaped  water 
through  the  four  openings  of  the  sandy  coast-rim, 
to  startle  the  marsh  fowl  in  their  reedy  haunts.  But 
ordinarily,  so  placid  was  the  bosom  of  the  Lagoon, 
that  the  incessant  making  and  unmaking  of  soil  be- 
low the  surface  would  not  have  been  suspected. 
The  land-locked  islands,  covered  with  verdure,  had 

B  1 


2  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

then  no  habitations,  unless  perhaps  here  and  there 
a  flimsy  hut  offered  precarious  shelter  to  some  fisher- 
man more  venturesome  than  his  fellows.  On  the 
outer  islands,  or  Udi,  there  may  have  been,  even  then, 
small  settlements ;  especially  on  the  southernmost, 
which  commanded  the  waterway  to  Padua.  But 
tW  jivs^l  intpression  produced  on  a  visitor  to  the 
Lagoon,  and  the  last,  must  have  been  of  solitude, 
!  of"  sluggish  Waters  and  shifting  lands,  —  waters 
through  which  the  boats  of  men  could  with  difficulty 
find  a  passage,  lands  on  which  men  themselves 
could  hardly  hope  to  build  firmly  or  to  get  a  meagre 
subsistence. 

Passing  to  the  continent,  however,  one  entered 
the  luxuriant  plain  watered  by  the  Po  and  fifty 
smaller  rivers.  Then,  as  now,  that  plain  was  one 
of  the  garden-spots  of  the  world.  Populous  cities, 
thriving  towns,  busy  villages,  lived  on  its  exhaust- 
less  harvests.  For  hundreds  of  years  its  people, 
the  Veneti,  shared  the  culture  of  Rome,  and  they 
gave  to  Roman  literature  three  of  its  masters.  Livy 
was  born  near  Padua,  Virgil  at  Mantua,  and  Catul- 
lus made  the  shores  of  Lake  Garda  forever  lovelier 
for  his  presence.  Where  the  Veneti  came  from,  or 
when  they  first  established  themselves  in  the  Delta 
-of  the  Po,  seems  now  past  finding  out.  Some  con- 
scientious historians  remind  us  that  before  the 
Trojan  War  a  tribe  of  Eneti  dwelt  in  Paphlagonia ; 
others  report  that  much  later  there  were  Veneti  in 
Brittany ;  still  others  would  ally  them  with  the  Slavic 
Wends ;  but  such  gossip  helps  no  more  than  silence. 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  3 

Possibly  they  were  kinsmen  of  the  Etruscans.  All 
that  we  know  certainly  is  that  they  had  been  pros- 
pering for  centuries  in  their  rich  plain,  when  Julius 
Csesar  admitted  them  to  Roman  citizenship.  Then 
they  saw  emperor  after  emperor  lead  his  armies 
across  their  plain  and  disappear  northward  into  the 
vast  wilderness  beyond  the  Alps  where  the  barbari- 
ans swarmed. 

Gradually,  the  vigor  of  Imperial  Rome  grew 
slack,  and  the  barbarians,  no  longer  withheld  by  the 
Roman  legions,  poured  through  the  passes  into 
Italy.  In  the  land  of  the  Veneti  they  found  booty 
and  ease  hitherto  undreamt  of  by  them.  At  their 
coming,  tHe  most  fearful  of  the  citizens  fled  to  the 
islands  of  the  Lagoon,  and  remained  there  until 
the  enemy,  glutted  with  spoils,  marched  on.  The 
refugees  crept  back  to  their  dismantled  homes,  leav- 
ing behind  them,  after  each  flight,  some  of  their 
companions,  who  preferred  privation  with  safety  to 
civilized  comforts  with  danger.  But  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifth  century,  the  incursions  from  the 
North  became  more  frequent  and  more  terrible. 
In  401,  Alaric  led  his  Visigoths  through  Venetia ; 
in  405,  Rhadagasius  headed  a  host  of  Ostrogoths, 
Vandals,  Suevi,  Burgundians,  and  other  barbarians ; 
thenceforward,  the  people  of  Venetia  lived  in  con- 
sternation until  the  coming  of  Attila  and  his  Huns 
in  452.  Atrocious  though  he  was,  rumor  born  of 
panic  made  him  more  atrocious  still.  He  devastated 
Illyria;  he  put  to  the  sword  the  inhabitants  of 
Aquileia,  the  most  important  city  beyond  Padua  j 


4  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

and  as  he  moved  southward,  whoever  could,  rushed 
to  cover.  This  time  the  fugitives  resorted  in  larger 
numbers  than  ever  to  the  islands  of  the  Lagoon,  and 
most  of  them  never  went  back  to  their  old  homes. 

So  the  year  452  stands  as  the  date  of  the  origin 
of  Venice,  although  tlie  old  chroniclers,  with  the 
suspicious  precision  of  ignorance,  set  March  25,  421, 
as  the  very  day  when,  "  about  noon,"  the  foundation 
stone  of  the  city  was  laid.  Their  earlier  date  doubt- 
less refers  to  an  actual  event  —  the  sending  from 
Padua  of  maritime  tribunes  to  govern  the  settlers 
on  the  islands  of  Kivoalto,  or  Rialto ;  but  to  Attila's 
scourge  we  trace  the  decisive  emigration  from  the 
mainland  to  the  Lagoon  out  of  which  the  Venetian 
Republic  sprang. 

As  these  emigrants,  like  the  English  Puritans 
who  colonized  Massachusetts,  were  civilized  folk 
suddenly  transplanted  to  a  wilderness,  the  mean 
conditions  into  which  they  were  forced  did  not 
fairly  represent  their  culture.  Moreover,  as  every 
class  joined  in  the  exodus,  social  distinctions  were 
brought  ready-made  into  the  new  communities. 
Above  all,  the  Veneti  had  from  of  old  the  love  and 
practice  of  liberty:  their  offspring,  the  Venetians, 
as  we  shall  henceforth  call  the  island  settlers, 
were  to  preserve  their  freedom  longer  than  any 
other  nation.  During  more  than  thirteen  hundred 
years  from  the  time  when  they  fled  from  Attila, 
they  never  submitted  to  domination  from  abroad, 
nor  suffered  a  tyrant  at  home.  Through  count- 
less vicissitudes    of    hardship,   of    glory,   of    dis- 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,   421-810  5 

aster,  they  maintained  inviolate  the  supremacy  of 
the  Venetian  state ;  guarding  it  jealously  ;  sacrific- 
ing everything  else,  personal  and  family  ambition, 
and  class  interests,  to  keep  it  free  and  paramount. 
No  other  government  has  exacted  more  from  its 
citizens ;  no  other  citizens  have  obeyed  their  state 
more  willingly  or  loved  it  with  a  nobler  passion. 
This  is  the  more  wonderful  because  Venice  was  in 
truth  not  a  popular  government  in  the  modern 
sense,  but  the  most  highly  organized  oligarchy. 
Other  oligarchies  have  flourished  for  a  while,  but 
the  Venetian  oligarchy  alone  knew  how  to  identify 
its  own  interests  with  those  of  the  entire  population, 
so  as  to  command,  during  a  thousand  years,  not  only 
the  respect  and  obedience  but  the  devotion  of  every 
child  of  Venice.  And  thus  the  history  of  the  Vene- 
tian Eepublic  unfolds  the  gradual  identification  of 
the  dominant  class  with  the  inner  life  of  the  state, 
not  less  than  the  dealings  of  the  state  with  the  out- 
side world. 

But  the  fugitives  from  Attila's  wrath  had  no 
vision  of  empire,  or  even  of  statehood ;  happy  they, 
if  in  their  watery  refuge  they  might  merely  exist. 
They  set  themselves  to  build,  not  a  political  fabric, 
but  such  dwellings  as  they  could,  out  of  mud  and 
clay  and  rough-hewn  logs.  They  learned  where 
fish,  their  chief  food,  abounded,  and  where  to  plant 
their  few  vegetables.  From  landsmen  they  became 
seamen,  but  we  have  absolutely  no  details  of  the 
transformation.  How  did  the  upper  classes,  accus- 
tomed to  luxurious  idleness,  now  fare  ?     How  close 


6  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  cuaf. 

were  the  relations  with  the  old  homes  ?  How  much 
was  saved  from  the  wreck  and  transferred  to  the 
infant  colonies,  after  the  devastating  Huns  swept 
by  ?  This  and  much  more  must  be  left  to  conjec- 
ture :  records  are  not  written  down  during  an  earth- 
quake. 

We  do  know,  however,  that  the  new  settlements 
differed  one  from  another,  just  as  the  cities  from 
which  they  had  sprung  differed,  —  Malamocco,  for 
instance,  was  reputed  democratic,  while  Heraclea 
was  aristocratic,  —  and  that  the  differences  led  in 
time  to  discord.  But  the  need  of  harmony  was 
most  urgent,  and  in  466  representatives  of  the 
various  townships  met  at  Grado  and  chose  officers 
to  govern  each  community.  The  election  of  these 
tribunes,  or  gastaldi,  marks  the  first  step  in  the  po- 
litical evolution  of  the  Kepublic.  Hitherto,  the 
parent  cities  had  exercised  a  real,  and  then  a  nomi- 
nal, suzerainty  over  the  islands;  now  the  islands 
proclaimed  that  they  would  have  no  more  consuls 
from  Padua,  but  local  rulers  of  their  own  choosing ; 
no  more  tutelage,  but  independence  ;  and  the  cities 
of  the  mainland  were  too  feeble  to  recover  control. 

A  large  word  is  independence  to  apply  to  these 
island  townships,  whose  population  could  have 
numbered  even  then  only  a  few  thousand  souls, 
widely  scattered  in  precarious  homes.  They  had 
elected  independence  —  could  they  maintain  it? 
The  Ostrogoth  should  come,  the  Lombard,  the 
Greek,  the  Frank,  and  each  should  strive,  by  force 
or  flattery  or  guile,  to  put  asunder  Venice  and  her 


I  THE   BEGINNINGS,   421-810  V 

independence  :  how  could  she,  apparently  so  weak, 
baffle  them  all  ? 

No  matter  how  often  we  may  have  read  the  story, 
which  of  us  can  realize,  even  faintly,  what  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Roman  Empire  meant  to  those  who 
witnessed  it  in  Italy  ?  We  can,  indeed,  taking  a 
philosophical  view,  "explain  it"  according  to  our 
present  lights.  We  see  xh'dt politically  it  involved  the 
breaking  up  and  passing  away  of  an  empire  which 
had  impressed  its  administration  on  the  entire  an- 
cient world ;  we  see  also  that  ethnically  it  worked  in 
Europe  for  the  replenishing  of  the  exhausted  Latin 
and  Latinized  stocks  by  the  Teutons  and  the  Slavs, 
with  their  barbaric  virility.  Knowing  the  sequel, 
—  the  tedious  forming  of  new  nations,  having  other 
institutions,  laws,  and  religions,  and  culminating  at 
last  in  a  civilization  higher  than  the  Roman,  —  we 
declare  the  rotting  of  Rome*  a  necessary  stage  in 
human  progress. 

But  contemporaries  could  not  peer  into  the  fu- 
ture ;  they  saw  only  the  catastrophe.  If  any  prophet 
could  have  revealed  to  them  that  the  horrors  they 
were  suffering  would  in  a  thousand  years  lead  to  a 
better  condition,  little  would  it  have  consoled  them. 
To  the  victims  on  the  rack,  the  present  was  all  in 
all.  Carried  down  in  the  crash  of  a  system  which 
they  had  believed  to  be  indestructible,  they  could 
hardly  have  been  more  appalled  if  the  laws  of  na- 
ture had  come  to  a  standstill.  Erom  the  past  they 
could  get  neither  encouragement  nor  instruction ; 
for   the   past   had   witnessed  no  similar  calamity. 


8  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Among  the  higher  classes  of  Italy  there  were  the 
alternating  languor  and  frenzy  that  punish  long  dis- 
sipation. Laws  ceased  to  guide  or  to  restrain.  The 
multitudes  were  resolved  into  their  primary  brutish 
instincts, — lust,  robbery,  murder.  And  everywhere, 
beside  the  Fury  lurked  the  Fear.  Possession  was 
uncertain  and  brief.  Death  alone  was  sure.  For, 
ever  and  anon,  the  hordes  of  the  barbarians,  Teuton 
or  Hun,  came  like  ravening  wolves,  whom  no  civil- 
ized pleasures  had  enervated,  to  devour  and  destroy ; 
until  they  learned  at  last  that  by  settling  in  the 
land,  and  sparing  the  inhabitants  to  do  their  bid- 
ding, they  might  enjoy  its  fatness  continuously. 
Rome  was  dying,  and  the  awfulness  of  her  death- 
throes  was  proportioned  to  her  former  grandeur 
and  pride  and  strength.  That  spectacle  has  so  as- 
tonished the  world  that  only  lately  have  historians 
sought  to  trace  amid  the  chaos  of  those  forces  of 
death  the  forces  which  were  at  work  to  create 
society  anew. 

On  the  edge  of  such  ruin,  like  a  young  cedar  on 
the  brink  of  a  whirlpool,  the  Venetian  state  took 
root.  Not  to  be  engulfed  in  the  vortex  of  the 
sinking  Empire,  nor  to  be  swept  away  by  the  wild, 
new  freshets  —  those  the  perils  which  had  to  be 
faced.  The  remoteness  of  the  island  settlements, 
not  less  than  their  poverty,  proved  their  salvation. 
In  476,  Romulus  Augustulus,  the  last  feeble  Roman 
Emperor  of  the  West,  was  deposed.  Fourteen  years 
later  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  invaded  Italy, 
conquered  much  of  it,  set  up  his  capital  at  Ravenna, 


THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  9 

and  maintained  until  526  a  better  government  than 
had  been  seen  since  Constantine.  The  Venetian  towns 
grew,  but  not  so  visibly  rich  as  to  excite  the  cove- 
tousness  of  their  Ostrogothic  neighbors.  Compara- 
tive tranquillity  enabled  them  to  extend  their  carry- 
ing trade  up  the  rivers  of  the  Po  Delta  and  among 
the  ports  at  the  head  of  the  Adriatic. 

From  this  era  dates  the  first  description  we  have 
by  an  eye-witness  of  the  Venetian  state  in  its  in- 
fancy. Cassiodorus,  Theodoric's  pretorian  prefect, 
addressed  in  523  a  letter  to  the  Maritime  Tribunes, 
exhorting  them  to  convey  promptly  to  Ravenna  the 
customary  tributes  of  wine  and  oil  from  Istria. 
He  praises  their  seamanship,  which  carried  them 
over  "  infinite  distances."  "  To  your  other  advan- 
tages," he  says,  "  it  is  added  that  you  can  always 
travel  a  safe  and  tranquil  coiwse ;  for  when  through 
the  angriness  of  the  winds  the  sea  is  closed  to  you, 
there  opens  another  way  through  the  pleasantest 
rivers.  Your  ships  fear  not  the  harsh  gusts.  .  .  . 
With  pleasure  I  recall  how  I  have  seen  your  habi- 
tations situated.  The  famous  Venetian  towns, 
already  filled  with  nobles,  border  on  the  south 
Ravenna  and  the  Po ;  toward  the  east  they  enjoy 
the  smiling  Ionian  shore,  where  the  alternating 
tide  now  covers  and  now  bares  the  surface  of  the 
fields.  There  are  your  houses  like  aquatic  birds, 
now  on  sea  and  now  on  shore  ;  and  when  the  aspect 
changes  suddenly,  these  dwellings  scattered  far  and 
wide,  not  produced  by  nature  but  founded  by  the 
industry  of  men,  are  like  the  Cyclades.     The  solid 


10  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

earth  is  there  held  together  by  woven  willow 
boughs,  and  you  have  no  doubts  in  opposing  so 
frail  a  barrier  to  the  waves,  when  the  shore  does 
not  suffice,  on  account  of  its  lowness,  to  hold  back 
the  mass  of  waters.  Your  inhabitants  have  abun- 
dance only  of  fish ;  rich  and  poor  live  together  in 
equality.  The  same  food  and  similar  houses  are 
shared  by  all ;  wherefore  they  cannot  envy  each 
other's  hearths,  and  so  they  are  free  from  the 
vice  that  rules  the  world.  All  your  emulation 
centres  on  the  salt-works ;  instead  of  ploughs  and 
scythes  you  turn  cylinders,  whence  comes  all  your 
gain.  Upon  your  industry  all  other  products  de- 
pend ;  for  though  there  may  be  somebody  who 
does  not  seek  gold,  there  never  yet  lived  the  man 
who  desires  not  salt,  which  makes  every  food 
more  savory.  Therefore,  repair  your  ships,  which 
you  keep  hitched  like  animals  to  your  walls." 

From  the  tone  of  Cassiodorus's  letter,  it  is 
evident  that  the  Venetians  had  contrived  to  stay 
on  friendly  terms  with  Theodoric,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  preserve  their  virtual  independence.  But 
the  great  Ostrogoth  had  scarcely  died,  in  526,  before 
a  graver  peril  confronted  them.  Justinian,  the 
Eastern  Emperor,  determined  to  bring  Italy  under 
the  sway  of  Byzantium. 

With  this  in  view,  he  despatched  to  the  Penin- 
sula his  general,  Belisarius,  who  captured  Ravenna 
in  540.  Thenceforth  the  Exarchate,  which  touched 
the  Lagoon  on  the  north  and  east  and  represented 
a  power  at  Constantinople  whose  strength  had  not 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,   421-810  11 

yet  been  tested,  might  well  be  regarded  by  the 
Venetians  as  a  menace ;  but  with  characteristic 
adroitness  they  took  care  not  to  force  a  test. 
Whether  from  policy  or  from  friendship,  they  lent 
their  ships  to  transport  the  troops  of  Narses,  who 
had  succeeded  Belisarius,  and  when  Longinus,  the 
next  exarch,  paid  a  friendly  visit  to  the  islanders, 
they  welcomed  him  without  reserve.  He  wished  to 
make  sure  of  their  assistance  against  the  Lombards, 
and  he  urged  them  to  acknowledge  the  Eastern  Em- 
peror as  their  suzerain.  The  Venetians  granted  his 
first  request  readily  enough.  Their  answer  to  his 
second  showed  that  they  already  understood  the  ad- 
vantage which  their  unique  position  gave  them. 
"  God,  who  is  our  help  and  protection,  has  saved  us 
in  order  that  we  may  dwell  upon  these  watery 
marshes.  This  second  Venice  which  we  have  raised 
in  the  Lagoons  is  a  mighty  habitation  for  us.  No 
power  of  emperor  or  prince  can  reach  us  save  by 
the  sea  alone,  and  of  them  we  have  no  fear." 
Longinus  freely  acknowledged  that  their  habitation 
was  indeed  mighty,  and  that  they  need  fear  neither 
prince  nor  emperor,  but  he  coaxed  them  so  pleas- 
antly to  send  an  embassy  to  Constantinople,  prom- 
ising that  no  formal  oath  should  be  exacted  of 
them,  that  they  complied.  In  due  season  their  en- 
voys returned,  bringing  the  first  treaty  which  the 
Venetians,  as  a  separate  state,  negotiated  with  a 
foreign  power  (568). 

And  here  we  come  to  the  question  of  the  exact 
relation  between  Venice  and  the  Eastern  Empire. 


12  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  wording  of  this  docu- 
ment or  of  others,  Venice  never  was  in  fact  de- 
pendent on  Constantinople.  From  policy  she  might 
claim  the  Emperor  as  her  suzerain,  and  she  certainly 
at  times  sent  a  nominal  tribute  to  him ;  but  no 
Byzantine  ever  crossed  her  threshold  to  govern  her. 
If  an  Imperial  messenger  brought  a  request,  she 
would  listen,  but  she  brooked  no  command.  From 
the  beginning  she  shrewdly  avoided  entangling 
alliances  with  her  neighbors,  whose  friendship 
might  prove  as  dangerous  as  their  enmity,  and  she 
professed  for  those  whom  distance  rendered  harm- 
less a  deference  not  to  be  construed  too  literally. 
In  the  long  run  she  got  much  more  than  she  gave 
by  her  titular  dependence  on  the  Eastern  Empire. 
Politically  she  gained  much;  commercially  she 
gained  more.  The  day  never  came  when  the  pro- 
tection she  bought  so  cheap  threatened  her  liberty. 
At  the  first  sign  of  such  a  danger  she  would  have 
averted  it  by  seeking  other  allies.  From  the  end 
of  the  sixth  century,  therefore,  we  must  think 
of  her  as  politely  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of 
the  Emperor  at  Constantinople,  without  allowing 
this  to  interfere  in  the  least  with  her  national 
ambition. 

But  while  the  Venetians  so  early  agreed  on  a 
policy  to  be  held  in  their  dealings  with  the  outside 
world,  they  suffered  from  long  discords  at  home. 
Among  the  twelve  communities^  which  comprised 

1  These  twelve  were  Grado,  Bibiones,  Caprulae  (Caorle), 
Heraclea,  Jesolo  (Cavalliiio) ,  Torcello,  Murano,  Rialto,  Meta- 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  13 

the  little  Republic,  there  were  inevitable  rivalries, 
due  to  the  feuds  which  they  had  inherited  from  their 
parent  cities,  or  to  commercial  competition,  or  to 
different  ideals  in  government,  or  to  the  clashing 
of  family  ambitions.  The  tribune  had  only  a  local 
authority  ;  too  often  he  lacked  even  that.  In  584, 
in  each  township  a  second  tribune  was  "  elected 
by  all  the  people,"  and  these  twelve  new  officers 
seem  to  have  been  the  forerunners  of  a  central  gov- 
ernment. From  the  earliest  times,  however,  the 
people  kept  the  final  control  in  their  own  hands. 
Their  arrengo,  or  popular  assembly,  in  which  every 
citizen  might  speak  and  vote,  resembled  in  its  de- 
mocracy the  New  England  town  meeting.  That 
the  magistrates  thus  chosen  came  to  have  much 
greater  power  than  the  New  England  selectmen  was 
due  to  the  violence  of  the  age  and  to  the  Eoman 
tradition.  In  every  land  where  that  tradition  has 
penetrated  there  has  been  an  invariable  tendency, 
no  matter  what  the  system  of  government,  to  mag- 
nify the  person  in  office  at  the  expense  of  the  cit- 
izens who  created  him.  Nevertheless,  in  Venice, 
even  after  the  election  of  the  greater  tribunes,  the 
need  of  a  centralized  government  was  still  strongly 
felt;  for  though  the  tribunes  were  often  powerful 
enough  to  tyrannize  over  their  fellow-townsmen, 
they  were  still  too  weak  either  to  compel  harmony 
or  to  set  up  a  despotism  throughout  the  Lagoons. 
From  the  outside,  as  usual,  came  the  wholesome, 

maucus  (Malamocco) ,  Pupillia  (Poveglia),  Clugies  Minor,  Clugies 
Major  (Chioggia).  — Brown,  p.  2. 


14  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

welding  strokes.  In  568  the  Lombards,  the  last  of 
the  Teutonic  barbarians,  conquered  Northern  Italy 
and  set  up  a  vigorous  rule  down  to  the  shore  of  the 
Lagoons.  Then  for  the  last  time  Venetians  of  the 
mainland  fled  for  safety  to  the  islands,  and  Tor- 
cello  remains  to  this  day  as  a  memorial  of  that 
final  settlement,  which  added  several  thousand 
inhabitants  to  the  population,  and,  more  important 
still,  put  an  end  to  all  thought  of  going  back. 
Thus  "  what  Attila  began,  Alboin,  the  king  of  the 
Lombards,  completed."  The  Venetians  had  now  to 
learn  to  live  beside  an  imperious  neighbor.  They 
agreed  to  pay  certain  dues,  in  return  for  which 
they  were  allowed  to  pursue  their  commerce  along 
the  rivers.  They  kept  their  friendship  with  the 
Eastern  Emperor,  who  still  held  Eavenna.  To 
make  the  port  against  both  wind  and  tide  is  the 
seaman's  art ;  the  Venetians  were  seamen  in  their 
statecraft  too.  But  they  still  owed  most  to  their 
comparative  insignificance  and  to  their  fairy  god- 
mother, Poverty. 

Throughout  the  seventh  century,  while  their 
foreign  relations  stood  thus  at  seesaw  between 
Lombards  and  Byzantines,  the  Venetians  quarreled 
incessantly  among  themselves.  Rival  families,  ri- 
val towns,  rival  forms  of  government,  were  striv- 
ing for  mastery;  and  there  was  also  the  love  of 
fighting  for  fighting's  sake  which  belongs  to  the 
half  civilized.  At  length  the  soberer  citizens 
realized  that  in  bloodshed  the  young  state  would 
exhaust  itself.     Christopher,  Patriarch  of  Grado, 


1  THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  15 

the  spiritual  head  of  the  Venetians,  called  an 
assembly  at  Heraclea  in  697,  and  proposed  that 
instead  of  the  twelve  tribunes  there  should  be  a 
single  ruler.  Thereupon  they  elected  Paoluccio 
Anaf esto  their  Doge  —  the  Venetian  form  of  dux  or 
duke  —  and  gave  him  almost  absolute  authority 
over  the  administration  and  the  army,  and  also 
over  ecclesiastical  appointments.  The  tribunes 
were  retained,  but  merely  as  local  officers.  The 
arrengo  alone  stood  as  a  check  on  the  Doge's  autoc- 
racy. We  must  not  suppose,  however,  that  these 
distinctions  were  observed  all  at  once.  Unlike 
modern  states,  which  spring,  with  a  ready-made 
constitution,  into  being,  the  Venetian  Republic 
grew. 

The  election  of  Doge  Anafesto  marks  the  unifi- 
cation of  the  cluster  of  small  towns  which  had 
hitherto  been  loosely  held  together  in  a  confeder- 
acy; the  federal  units  might  still  clash  among 
themselves,  but  the  fact  of  their  unity  was  the 
great  fact.  Anafesto,  being  a  Heraclean,  presum- 
ably represented  the  aristocratic  ideas  which  pre- 
vailed at  Heraclea.  He  had  fierce  struggles  with 
the  democrats,  headed  by  the  men  of  Jesolo  and 
Malamocco,  and  overcame  them  only  after  much 
slaughter.  Abroad,  however,  by  negotiating  a  com- 
mercial treaty  with  Liutprand,  the  Lombard  king, 
he  won  a  diplomatic  victory  which  all  his  subjects 
could  enjoy.  When  Anafesto  died,  after  reigning 
twenty  years,  he  left  the  state  stronger  in  spite  of 
its  dissensions,  but  the  permanence  of  the  dogeship 


16  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

was  not  yet  assured.  His  successor,  Marcello  Te- 
galliano,  another  Heraclean,  had  an  ecclesiastical 
quarrel  to  adjust.  Aquileia  had  been  the  patriar- 
chate of  the  Upper  Adriatic  until  Attila's  invasion, 
when  the  Patriarch  fled  to  Grado  and  there  estab- 
lished a  new  see.  After  the  Patriarch's  return  to 
Aquileia,  the  Bishop  of  Grado  became  the  most 
important  ecclesiastic  in  the  Lagoons,  so  important, 
indeed,  that  Pope  Pelagius  II  created  him  a  patri- 
arch, and  made  his  bishopric  the  metropolitan  see 
for  Maritime  Venice  and  Istria  (579).  This  inten- 
sified the  archiepiscopal  hatred  of  the  Aquileian 
patriarchs  for  their  brothers  of  Grado,  and  they  did 
not  stick  at  inducing  the  Lombards,  who  were 
willing  enough,  to  attack  and  capture  Grado. 
Donato,  the  Patriarch  of  Grado,  escaped  to  Venice 
and  implored  Tegalliano  to  reinstate  him ;  but  the 
Doge  discreetly  referred  the  quarrel  to  the  Pope, 
with  recommendations  in  favor  of  Donato.  The 
Pope  could  do  no  less  than  comply,  if  only  be- 
cause Donato  had  remained  firmly  orthodox,  where- 
as his  Aquileian  rival  had  joined  the  Arian  schism  ; 
but  as  the  Pope  had  no  physical  means  of  com- 
pelling submission,  it  was  not  until  the  Lateran 
Council  (732)  confirmed  his  decision  that  the  older 
patriarch  ceased  to  harass  the  younger. 

This  outcome  of  what  seemed  a  mere  churchman's 
wrangle  proved  of  immense  importance  to  Venice. 
The  Roman  Church  was  the  first  institution  des- 
tined to  long  life  that  rose  after  the  collapse  of  the 
ancient  world.     By  the  eighth  century  this  Church 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  17 

was  already  reacliing  out  for  political  power  and 
territorial  possessions  —  for  those  temporalities 
which  eventually  transformed  the  religious  institu- 
tion into  the  Papacy,  the  worldliest  of  medieval 
states  and  the  most  irreligious.  Venice  alone 
escaped  the  tyranny  of  this  subtle  power.  The 
Patriarch  of  Grado  was  her  Patriarch,  Venetian 
before  he  was  Eoman,  bound  by  personal  interests 
and  by  civic  loyalty  to  uphold  Venice  against  even 
the  Roman  Pontiff.  In  later  days,  when  the  new 
states  of  Western  Christendom  learned  one  by  one 
that  in  fostering  the  Roman  Church  they  had 
harbored  a  body  of  foreign  political  intriguers, 
Venice  knew  that  from  her  priests  and  prelates  she 
had  little  to  fear.  She  watched  the  long  struggles 
of  Prance,  of  Moravia,  of  Hungary,  to  establish 
each  a  national  church ;  she  witnessed  the  mighty 
contest  between  Popes  and  Holy  Roman  Emperors, 
and  their  mutual  destruction ;  she  saw  England 
cringing  in  the  thirteenth  century  before  the 
Roman  legate,  and  shaking  off  the  Roman  shackles 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  only  to  substitute  for 
them  an  emasculate  and  disingenuous  form  of  Ro- 
manism ;  she  saw  Spain  at  the  height  of  empire 
surrender  herself,  body  and  soul,  to  Rome,  and 
thereafter  rot,  body  and  soul,  past  all  remedy: 
Venice  was  a  spectator  of  all  these  tragedies,  but 
they  gave  her  no  personal  concern.  She  never 
had  an  ecclesiastical  problem ;  and  never,  until  her 
decadence,  did  she  suffer  a  Roman  ecclesiastic  to 
speak   officially  as   a  Roman  within  her  borders. 


18  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Assured  of  independence  from  clerical  control,  she 
remained  devout  when  other  nations  warred  openly 
with  the  Church  whose  tenets  they  professed.  And 
as  she  was  spared  the  horrors  of  a  religious  war, 
so  she  was  never  poisoned  by  the  remembrance  of 
them.  For  many  ages  her  soil  was  the  abode  of 
religious  toleration.  The  Patriarch  of  Grado 
(whose  see  was  not  transferred  to  Venice  itself 
until  1445)  was  her  pope ;  and  if  the  Koman  Curia 
insisted  too  haughtily  on  "  St.  Peter,"  Venice  re- 
plied with  equal  haughtiness  and  greater  affec- 
tion, "  St.  Mark."  "  Venetians  first.  Christians 
afterward,"  was  the  immemorial  maxim  of  her 
people. 

Under  the  third  Doge,  Or  so,  surnamed  Ipato 
(726-37),  the  Venetians  won  their  first  military 
success.  The  Lombards  had  conquered  the  Exar- 
chate and  occupied  Ravenna.  The  Venetians, 
dreading  further  encroachments  in  that  direction, 
sent  a  fleet  to  Ravenna,  and  after  a  long  siege 
captured  it  and  slew  the  Lombard  commander. 
This  episode,  besides  giving  the  Venetians  military 
prestige,  showed  that  they  would  grant  or  withhold 
their  alliance  according  to  what  they  deemed  their 
own  interests.  The  Greek  Emperor  expressed  his 
•gratitude  by  bestowing  upon  Doge  Orso  the  title 
of  Hypatos  or  Imperial  Consul,  and  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Lombards  were  restored.^ 

1  Some  historians  base  their  assertion  that  Venice  was  literally 
a  dependency  of  the  Greek  Empire  on  the  fact  that  Orso  and 
several  of  his  successors  accepted  the  title  Ilypatos.    The  evi- 


I  THE   BEGINNINGS,   421-810  19 

.  But  at  home  the  old  feuds  flared  up  afresh. 
Orso  was  accused  of  plotting  to  surrender  the  Ee- 
public  to  the  Greek  Emperor,  who  would  create  him 
its  autocratic  governor,  and  in  an  insurrection  he 
was  killed.  The  assembly  refused  to  elect  another 
doge.  "We  desire  not,"  they  said,  "to  choose  a 
lord,  as  the  doges  have  shown  they  wish  to  be. 
Why  did  our  ancestors  seek  these  islands  except 
to  live  in  freedom  ?  Had  they  wished  to  be  slaves, 
there  were  many  better  dwelling  places  where  they 
might  have  settled."  Instead  of  a  doge,  therefore, 
they  chose  the  master  of  the  soldiers  —  mastro 
militum  —  to  hold  office  for  a  year;  but  at  the  end 
of  six  years  they  returned  to  their  ducal  govern- 
ment and  never  afterward  abandoned  it.  Deodato, 
the  fourth  Doge  (742-55),  had  a  stormy  reign,  in 
which  the  enemies  of  Heraclea  rose  against  him  ; 
he  was  deposed  and  barbarously  blinded,  and  within 
a  year  his  rival,  Galla  Gaulo,  met  the  same  fate. 
Then  at  last  Malamocco,  the  little  city  on  the  outer 
island  rim,  elected  her  candidate,  Domenico  Mone- 
garo  (756-64),  and  became  the  capital  of  the  Vene- 
tians. So  intent  were  the  democrats  on  preventing 
a  lapse  into  one-man  power  that  they  set  two  trib- 
unes to  be  a  check  on  him  —  an  arrangement  which 
speedily  led  to  quarrels,  in  which  "  his  eyes  were 
outed  of  his  head,  and  his  person  of  his  office." 
During  more  than   a   generation  the  struggle  for 

dence  seems  to  me  not  to  warrant  this  conclusion,  even  after 
we  make  what  allowance  we  choose  for  the  fact  that  our 
information  comes  from  Venetian  sources. 


20  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

supremacy  between  Heraclea  and  Malamocco  did  not 
abate;  but  in  the  end,  Malamocco  triumphed  and 
her  rival  was  destroyed.  The  Heracleans  and  their 
enemies  of  Jesolo  were  transported  to  Malamocco, 
in  the  hope  that  thereby  the  various  elements  of 
discord  might  be  fused  into  one  harmonious  people. 
Meanwhile  there  appeared  a  new  conqueror  — 
the  mightiest  since  Caesar.  To  stop  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Lombards,  the  Pope  implored  the 
assistance  of  the  Franks.  Over  the  Alps,  down  the 
valley  of  the  Po,  across  the  marches,  to  the  shores 
of  the  Adriatic,  came  Charles  the  Great  and  subdued 
the  Lombards.  He  seems  to  have  been  satisfied  at 
first  with  imposing  restrictions  upon  Venetian  com- 
merce ;  but  by  and  by,  when  he  had  grown  to  be 
the  virtual  sovereign  of  Western  Christendom,  he 
could  hardly  allow  the  small  commonwealth  in 
the  Lagoons  to  exist  independent  of  his  control. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  compact  which  he  made  in 
803  with  the  Greek  Emperor,  he  agreed  that  the 
Venetians  should  enjoy  undisturbed  the  position 
and  liberties  they  had  been  accustomed  to  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy.  But  there  had  sprung  up  in 
Venice  itself  a  party  which  held  that  their  only 
salvation  lay  in  submitting  to  Charlemagne  as 
suzerain.  Personal  ambitions,  family  feuds,  local 
jealousies,  and  the  projects  of  the  Patriarch  com- 
bined  to  make  this  Frankish  party  formidable.  Its 
adherents,  forgetting  the  traditional  policy  of  Ven- 
ice, nearly  wrecked  their  state  by  urging  that  unless 
they  voluntarily  took  Charlemagne  for  their  lord, 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  21 

the  Greek  Emperor  would  forcibly  take  them  for 
his  vassals  —  a  specious  plea,  since  the  Frankish 
conquest  put  an  end  to  the  waning  Byzantine  influ- 
ence in  Northern  Italy.  Some  of  these  partisans, 
driven  into  exile,  sought  refuge  in  the  Frankish  cities 
of  the  mainland ;  others  fled  to  Charles  at  Aix  and 
implored  him  to  aid  them;  the  greatest  number 
stayed  at  home  and  carried  on  their  intrigues  as 
openly  as  they  dared.  Evidently,  only  the  com- 
parative insignificance  of  the  Maritime  Eepublic 
caused  Charlemagne  to  refrain  from  attacking  it. 
Just  what  pretext  his  son  Pepih  had  for  organiz- 
ing an  expedition  against  Venice,  we  do  not  know ; 
there  are  certain  situations  which  are  themselves 
a  sufficient  reason  for  any  act,  good  or  bad,  which 
may  arise  out  of  them  (810). 

Pepin,  having  gathered  a  large  flotilla  at  Eavenna, 
aimed  his  assault  from  the  sea.  The  Venetians, 
who  had  always  deemed  themselves  impregnable 
on  that  side,  were  astonished,  if  not  dismayed,  as 
they  lost  one  port  after  another.  Pepin  took  Bron- 
dolo;  he  took  Chioggia;  he  stormed  Pelestrina; 
only  Albiola  and  a  narrow  channel  lay  between  him 
and  Malamocco,  the  capital.  But  at  Albiola  the 
Venetians  at  last  made  an  effectual  stand.  Then 
the  Frankish  invasion  became  a  siege,  which  dragged 
on  for  half  a  year,  until  the  heats  wasted  Pepin's 
army.  Possibly,  too,  rumors  that  a  Byzantine  fleet 
was  on  its  way  to  relieve  the  Venetians  may  have 
warned  him  to  withdraw.  At  any  rate,  by  mid- 
summer, he  raised  the  siege,  and  Venice  was  saved. 


22  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Charlemagne  bore  no  malice  against  the  Venetians, 
for  he  gave  back  the  territory  Pepin  had  captured, 
and  he  consented  that  they  should  pay  no  more 
tribute  in  future  than  they  had  paid  to  the  Lom- 
bards in  the  past.  That  tribute, "  thirty-six  pounds 
of  pure  silver,"  was  rather  a  trader's  license  fee 
than  a  vassal's  offering.  By  the  treaty  of  Aix,  con- 
cluded with  the  Eastern  Emperor,  he  acknowledged 
that  the  Venetians  belonged  to  the  Eastern  Empire. 

Pepin's  invasion,  revealing  the  insecurity  of 
Malamocco,  marked  another  turning-point  in  the 
development  of  Venice.  During  the  siege,  the 
women  and  children  and  old  men  were  removed 
from  the  lldi  to  the  islands  of  Kialto,  situated  about 
midway  in  the  Lagoon,  beyond  reach  of  an  enemy ; 
and  when  the  danger  had  passed,  the  Venetians 
voted  to  transfer  the  capital  to  Rialto.  Next,  the 
common  peril  united  the  feud-sundered  factions. 
We  hear  little  more  of  Prankish  or  Greek  partisans, 
and  never  again  did  any  powerful  party  shamelessly 
propose  to  surrender  the  independence  of  the  Re- 
public. With  the  growth  of  the  new  capital,  the 
old  municipal  jealousies  naturally  died  out.  Mala- 
mocco sank  into  tranquillity,  as  Heraclea  had  sunk 
before  her;  for  now  the  greater  life  throbbed  at 
Venice,  the  city  which,  being  founded  by  men  of 
all  parties,  belonged  to  all  and  not  to  any  one. 

Finally  and  chiefly,  Venice  had  met  victoriously 
the  new  power  which  Charlemagne  had  consolidated. 
The  Holy  Roman  Empire  and  the  Papacy  were  the 
two  institutions  which,  either  jointly  or  separately, 


I  THE  BEGINNINGS,  421-810  23 

lorded  it  over  mere  kings  and  local  rulers  through- 
out the  Middle  Age.  As  Venice  had  already  avoided 
falling  into  the  grasp  of  the  Papacy,  so  she  now 
eluded  the  clutches  of  the  Empire.  By  preserving 
her  independence  during  Charlemagne's  lifetime 
she  established  it  in  perpetuity ;  because  when  he 
died  the  military  force  he  had  wielded  was  shat- 
tered, his  Empire  was  divided  and  broken  up,  and 
by  the  time  another  strong  Emperor  came  into 
Italy,  Venice  herself  was  too  strong  to  fear  sub- 
jugation. 

[The  Papacy,  the  Empire,  and  the  Venetian  Re- 
public were  three  independent  institutions  which 
rose  out  of  the  chaos  into  which  the  ruin  of  Rome 
plunged  the  ancient  world.  Church  and  Empire 
claimed  to  be  universal ;  Venice  was  perforce  local. 
Lacking  the  incalculable  advantage  which  its  reli- 
gious pretensions  gave  the  Church,  or  the  advantage 
which  the  Empire  drew  from  its  attempt  to  revive 
magnificent  traditions,  Venice  served  civilization 
not  less  truly  than  they.  Her  vitality  was  as  dur- 
able as  theirs  ;  her  achievements  not  less  splendid.- 
Empire  and  Church  helped,  however  imperfectlyT 
to  unify  Western  Christendom  ;  at  least,  they  kept 
alive  the  ideal  of  unity.  It  was  the  mission  of 
Venice  to  bind  Western  Christendom  to  the  rest  of 
the  world,  — to  the  Greek  Christians  of  the  ^Egean 
and  the  Bosphorus,  and  to  the  great  non-Christian 
races  of  the  Orient,  —  to  the  Arab,  the  Persian, 
and  the  Hindu.  |  Her  relations  were  primarily  not 
political,  not  religious,  but  commercial :  she  taught 


24  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap,  i 

how  commerce  may  be  a  humanizing  agency  in 
epochs  when  religion  fosters  wars,  and  governments 
treat  every  foreigner  as  a  foe.}  Had  Charlemagne 
succeeded  in  crushing  her  nascent  power,  her  story 
would  have  been  as  insignificant  as  that  of  Zara  or 
Trieste. 

"  Be  thou  unique ! "  is  the  command  Fate  issued 
to  Venice  alone  among  the  nations.  "  In  the  isola- 
tion of  thy  site,  none  shall  resemble  thee.  In  thy 
freedom  from  Pope  and  Emperor,  none  shall  rival 
thee.  The  city  thou  buildest  on  the  ooze  of  the 
Lagoon  shall  outlast  the  rock-built  cities  of  the 
crag  and  the  broad-laid  cities  of  the  plain.  Out  of 
thine  incessant  combat  with  the  sea  shall  come  thy 
strength.  Thy  soul  shall  delight  in  beauty,  and 
beautiful  shall  be  thy  handiwork." 

As  the  flower  lies  in  the  seed,  so  all  these  pos- 
sibilities lay  in  the  tiny  Venetian  Commonwealth 
after  the  repulse  of  Pepin. 


CHAPTER  II 

BUILDING  THE  STATE,  810-1096 

Angelo  Partecipazo,  or  Badoer  (811-27),  the 
first  Doge  of  the  new  era,  set  about  converting 
the  islands  of  Eialto  into  a  worthy  capital.  He 
built  the  first  Ducal  Palace,  doubtless  a  rugged 
structure,  on  the  site  where  the  present  one  stands. 
He  appointed  Pietro  Tradonico  to  be  chief  architect 
for  the  whole  city,  Lorenzo  Alimpato  to  direct  the 
digging  of  canals  and  the  raising  of  embankments, 
and  Nicolo  Ardisonio  to  devise  means  for  protect- 
ing the  lidi  from  being  washed  away.  Angelo  has 
justly  been  called  the  founder  of  Venice,  for  by  him 
aud  by  these  three  assistants  were  traced  the  out- 
lines of  the  magic  city  which  we  know.  Most  of 
the  little  islands  forming  the  Eialtine  group  were 
already  inhabited ;  but  he  joined  them  by  bridges 
and  united  them  under  a  single  administration. 

Angelo  had  been  dead  only  a  few  months  when 
the  body  of  St.  Mark  was  brought  to  Venice 
(January  31,  828)  by  two  merchants,  —  Eustico  of 
Torcello  and  Buono  of  Malamocco,  —  who  had  escaped 
with  it,  in  marvelous  fashion,  from  Alexandria. 
We  can  hardly  realize  what  it  meant  in  that  age 
for  a  city  to  have  a  patron  saint.  He  served  it  not 
25 


26  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

only  as  a  constant  protector  in  its  daily  affairs,  but 
also  as  an  intercessor  before  the  Almighty.  By  its 
thinly  disguised  polytheistic  system  of  saints,  angels 
and  archangels,  the  Roman  Church  perpetuated  the 
ancient  pagan  worship  of  minor  gods  and  local 
deities  —  of  beings  sufficiently  near  the  human  to 
be  within  the  reach  of  the  average  understanding. 
Between  the  worshiper  and  God,  the  Church  has 
always  interposed  either  some  celestial  intercessor 
or  a  living  priest,  and  has  dedicated  its  houses  of 
worship  not  to  God  but  to  his  saints.  The  patron 
of  a  city  or  a  state  was,  therefore,  of  the  highest 
religious  importance.  In  St.  Mark  the  Venetians 
secured  a  patron  of  the  first  order.  The  legend 
that  Mark  when  alive  had  landed  on  an  island  of 
Rialto  and  been  met  by  Christ  with  the  words, 
"  Peace  to  thee,  Mark,  my  Evangelist,"  easily  gained 
credence,  as  indicating  that  he  was  predestined  to 
be  the  protector  of  the  future  city.  In  prestige, 
Mark  shone  not  less  brightly  than  Peter  or  Paul, 
and  the  Venetians  by  accepting  him  deposed  to  a 
secondary  position  St.  Theodore,  who  had  till  then 
been  their  guardian;  even  among  the  saints,  it 
seems,  there  are  social  distinctions.  Alongside  of 
the  Ducal  Palace  they  began  the  basilica  in  which 
they  worshiped  St.  Mark  and  preserved  his  body. 
In  that  worship  there  was  nothing  perfunctory.  No 
other  patron  of  medieval  times  —  not  St.  James  in 
Spain,  nor  St.  George  in  England,  nor  St.  Denis 
in  France  —  grew  so  intimately  into  the  hearts  of 
his    people  as    did    St.    Mark.      The    Venetians 


II  BUILDING  THE  STATE,   810-1096  27 

revered  him  and  they  loved  him,  and  out  of  their 
great  love  and  reverence  they  made  his  sanctuary 
the  most  beautiful  in  Christendom. 

The  bringing  of  St.  Mark's  body  from  Alexandria 
shows  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century 
Venice  had  already  extensive  commercial  relations. 
The  earliest  islanders  supported  themselves  by 
fishing.  Then  salt  became  a  staple,  and  the  salt- 
erns of  the  little  Eepublic  supplied  all  the  neighbor- 
ing Italians.  Soon  a  carrying  trade  was  organized, 
and  the  Venetian  vessels  plied  up  and  down  the 
rivers  or  along  the  coast.  As  more  seaworthy 
ships  wer6  built,  longer  voyages  were  undertaken. 
Before  750  regular  mercantile  intercourse  was  es- 
tablished with  France,  Constantinople,  and  Egypt. 
Istria  and  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Adriatic  had  of 
course  been  exploited  before  this.  When  a  great 
fair  was  opened  at  Pavia,  about  770,  the  Venetian 
traders  mounted  the  Po  and  displayed  for  sale  silk 
and  cloth  of  gold  and  other  oriental  wares.  In  977 
they  had  a  colony  at  Limoges,  and  in  the  following 
century  they  invaded  Marseilles,  Aiguemortes,  Tou- 
louse, and  other  cities  of  Southern  Prance.  They 
opened  a  regular  postal  service  between  Venice 
and  Constantinople,  which  required  fifty  days  for 
the  round  trip. 

Their  own  isolation  sent  them  to  the  mainland 
for  building  material,  for  vegetables  and  meat,  for 
metals  and  for  all  luxuries.  Everything  conspired 
to  breed  in  them  enterprise,  thrift,  foresight,  and  to 
make  them  by  Charlemagne's  time  important  out 


28  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  ciiAr. 

of  proportion  to  their  numbers.  They  had  dis- 
covered their  mission,  commerce,  and  were  far 
advai]ced  on  the  road  to  civilization  before  Pepin 
thundered  at  their  outposts.  To  get  a  true  view  of 
the  Venetians  we  must  remember  that,  amid  wars 
and  political  upheavals  about  which  history  has 
most  to  tell,  commerce,  seldom  chronicled,  was  the 
real  business  of  their  lives.  Year  in,  year  out,  their 
ships  went  shuttling  across  the  Adriatic  or  the 
Mediterranean,  and  up  the  Italian  rivers;  their 
merchants  were  trading  with  Greek  and  Arab,  with 
Frank  and  Saxon  and  Slav ;  and  the  best  thought 
of  their  rulers  was  spent  in  devising  ways  for 
safeguarding  and  extending  their  trade, 
j  .  ,  Thus  the  Venetian  state  put  forth  the  attributes 
I  of  permanence,  which  implies,  not  the  changeless- 
i  ness  of  stagnation,  but  adaptability.  It  took  root 
in  the  new  conditions  which  were  slowly  transform- 
ing Western  Europe  into  a  collection  of  states  more 
or  less  plastic  to  feudalism.  In  Venice  herself, 
however,  feudalism  never  prevailed.  Her  deep-set 
love  of  liberty,  combined  with  her  fortunate  isola- 
tion, saved  her  from  it.  But  the  development  of 
her  peculiar  system  of  government  went  on.  Dur- 
ing the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  the  problem  was 
whether  the  Doge  should  become  an  hereditary  sov- 
ereign ;  for  other  nations,  on  emerging  from  bar- 
barism, invariably  adopted  the  dynastic  principle. 
The  Holy  Eoman  Empire  seemed  at  first  an  excep- 
tion, but  it  too  became,  in  spite  of  its  more  than 
national  scope,  the  appanage  of  a  single  German 


II  BUILDING  THE  STATE,  810-1096  29 

house.  Even  the  Church,  through  the  ambition  of 
her  political  counterpart,  the  Papacy,  narrowly 
escaped  from  the  rule  of  hereditary  popes.  The  de- 
fects in  an  elective  monarchy  are  as  easy  to  point 
out  as  are  the  reasons  why  elective  monarchs  should 
strive  to  hand  on  their  crown  to  their  descendants. 
In  Venice,  between  811  and  979,  out  of  sixteen 
doges  nine  belonged  to  the  Badoer  family  and  five 
to  the  Candiano.  The  Doge  usually  associated  his 
son  with  him  in  the  government,  so  that  when  the 
father  died  the  election  of  the  son  was  assured. 
The  rivalry  of  those  two  families  prevented  the 
succession  in  either  from  being  continuous.  The 
unpopularity  of  some  of  the  doges  and  the  incom- 
petence of  others  rendered  the  dynastic  principle 
unattractive,  and  the  people  clung  to  the  system 
of  election,  thanks  to  which,  although  they  might 
choose  one  bad  doge,  they  could  hope  to  choose  a 
better  one  next  time. 

Nevertheless,  the  Badoeri  and  Candiani,  though 
they  failed  in  making  their  dynasties  hereditary, 
held  in  turn  immense  power  :  as  when  the  Doge,  the 
Patriarch  of  Grado,  the  Bishop  of  Olivolo  (then  the 
chief  prelate  in  Rialto),  and  other  high  dignitaries 
in  Church  and  State,  were  all  kinsmen.  That  the 
democratic  principle  overcame  against  such  odds, 
proves  how  fundamental  it  was  in  the  Venetians' 
character.  We  must  guard  against  assigning  a 
modern  meaning  to  such  a  political  term  as  "  demo- 
cratic" when  we  apply  it  to  the  Venetians.  They 
gloried  in  their  democracy  to  the  end,  even  when 


30  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

their  government  was  a  rigid  oligarchy,  and  little 
survived  of  democracy  save  its  name.  But  during 
these  formative  centuries  they  insisted  on  making 
and  deposing  their  supreme  ruler,  as  their  one  right 
not  to  be  relinquished. 

Compared  with  her  Christian  neighbors  at  this 
period,  Venice  led  a  not  unduly  stormy  life.  Two 
doges  were  assassinated  ;  several  abdicated  and  en- 
tered a  monastery;  there  were  violent  clashes  be- 
tween the  ducal  power  and  the  Patriarch,  and  the 
rise  of  a  few  great  families,  mutually  hostile, 
caused  more  than  one  bloody  brawl.  But  there 
was,  nevertheless,  a  measurable  growth  in  respect 
for  legality,  in  the  ability  of  the  government  to 
maintain  order,  and  in  the  desire  of  the  people  to 
enjoy  it,  Venice  in  the  ninth  century  was  politi- 
cally more  stable  than  France  in  the  nineteenth, 
and  we  should  probably  have  to  seek  beyond 
Christian  lands,  at  Cordova,  under  the  Ommiyades, 
to  find  a  higher  contemporary  civilization. 

But  whether  there  were  peace  or  discord  at  home, 
Venice  had  seldom  a  long  respite  from  foes  abroad. 
The  eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic,  with  its  narrow, 
intricate  inlets  and  its  wild  mountains,  formed  a 
perfect  resort  for  pirates ;  and  there  Slavic  pirates 
throve  by  preying  on  Venetian  traders  and  by  ter- 
rorizing the  people  of  Istria  and  Croatia.  To  keep 
them  in  check  was  a  never-finished  task.  The 
pirates  could  not  be  bound  by  pledges.  When 
captured,  they  were  taken  to  Venice  and  sold  into 
slavery.     The  name  of  the  chief  quay,  Eiva  degli 


n  BUILDING  THE  STATE,   810-1096  31 

Schiavoni  ("  the  Slavonians'  Quay  "),  is  a  reminder, 
like  the  word  '^  slave  "  itself,  of  that  practice.     Yet 
it  was  the  increased  armament  required  for  dealing 
with  these  outlaws  which  made  possible  both  the 
great  naval  power  of  Venice  and  her  empire  on 
the  Adriatic  and  in  the  East.     Geography  deter- 
mined that  the  object  of  Venice  should  be  com- 
merce, not  conquest.     In  buying  and  selling  she 
regarded  no  man  as  an  enemy.     But  she  discovered 
that,  first  her  own  merchants  and  next  those  with 
whom  they  traded,  must  be  protected  j  and  protec- 
tion took  many  forms, — now  a  galley  sent  to  coii-^ 
voy  the  fleets  of  rich-freighted  merchantmen  ;  now 
a  garrison  to  guard  the  Venetian  factory  in  some     j 
foreign  city;  now  a  protectorate  or   colony  main- 
tained from  purely  business  motives.     Much  time  -p 
was  to  pass  before  Imperial  Venice  came  into  being ;     * 
but  we  shall  do  well  to  remember  from  the  start  j 
the  principle  which  governed  her  expansion.     All  1 
her  various  methods  of  protection  were  but  policing.  I 
Her  first  important  naval  expedition  ended  dis- 
astrously.    In    the    ninth    century   the    Saracens 
scoured  the  Mediterranean.     As  eager  as  the  Slavs 
for  plunder,  unlike  the  Slavs  they  seized  land  and 
colonized  wherever  they  could.     They  were  already 
conquering   Sicily  and  menacing   Southern   Italy, 
when  the  Greek  Emperor,  Theodosius,  besought  Ven- 
ice to  aid  him  against  them.     She  quickly  fitted  out  ' 
a  fleet  of  sixty  dromoni,  heavy  galleys,  each  with  \ 
two  hundred  men  (making  an  enormous  force,  if  the   \ 
figures  be  correct),  and  joined  the  Greek  navy  at    \ 


32  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Crotona,  on  the  Gulf  of  Tarentum,  where  they 
gave  battle  to  the  Saracens.  At  the  first  onset  the 
Greek  commander  slunk  away  with  his  fleet ;  the 
Venetians,  overmatched,  were  compelled  to  with- 
draw ;  and  the  Saracens  chased  them  up  the  Adri- 
atic with  such  energy  that  only  a  few  of  the 
galleys  escaped  capture  or  destruction.  Venice 
herself  seemed  in  danger  of  an  attack  ;  but  after  a 
taunting  reconnaissance,  the  victors  steered  south- 
ward (840). 

Once  more,  and  for  the  last  time  within  the  cen- 
tury, Venice  beheld  a  formidable  enemy  at  her 
gates.  In  900  the  Magyars,  under  their  great 
chief,  Arpad,  descended  through  Friuli,  —  "the 
most  harmful  door,  left  open  by  nature  to  chas- 
tise the  faults  of  Italy,"  —  and  having  ravaged  as 
far  west  as  Pavia,  they  heard  of  the  rich  spoils 
they  might  seize  in  Venice.  Ketracing  their  steps 
and  following  the  route  Pepin  had  taken,  they  at- 
tacked the  Republic  at  its  southwestern  corner: 
Again  did  Brondolo,  Chioggia,  and  Pelestrina  suc- 
cumb ;  again  did  the  Venetians  mass  their  strength 
at  Albiola;  and  again  was  Venice  saved.  The 
Magyars,  so  terrible  on  land,  could  not  cope  with 
the  sea-bred  Venetians  on  the  water  (June  29,  900). 
To  this  day  the  name  S.  Pietro  in  Volta  —  St.  Peter 
of  the  Turn  —  commemorates  the  turning  in  flight 
of  Arp^d's  host.  One  other  military  event  needs 
to  be  recorded :  an  expedition  against  the  neigh- 
boring town  of  Comacchio,  which  the  Venetians 
razed  to  a  state  of  insignificance  from  which  it  never 


II  BUILDING  THE  STATE,   810-1096  33 

emerged.  If  jealousy  of  a  possible  rival  was  the 
motive  of  this  severity,  as  has  been  asserted,  it 
shows  the  unlovely  side  of  this  nation  of  merchants. 
They  could  not  be  tempted  into  war  by  lust  of 
empire,  but  without  remorse  they  would  cut  down 
a  competitor. 

Through  all  these  vicissitudes  the  Republic 
steadily  waxed  strong.  The  depredations  of  the 
pirates  caused  it  to  organize"  a  navy ;  invaders  by 
land  caused  it  to  fortify  its  landward  approaches, 
and  even  the  islands.  At  the  time  of  the  Magyar 
peril  a  strong  castle  was  built  at  Olivolo,  near  the 
site  of  the  present  Arsenal,  and  a  battlemented 
wall,  then  or  a  little  later,  shut  in  the  grassy  fields 
and  orchards  which  we  know  as  the  Place  of  St. 
Mark.  Another  high  wall  skirting  the  E-iva  degli 
Schiavoni  connected  the  Castle  with  the  Ducal 
Palace. 

By  adroitly  pursuing  her  traditional  policy,  Ven- 
ice steered  a  safe  course  between  the  East  and  the 
West.  Luckily  Charlemagne  left  no  heir  capable 
of -iiolding  together  his  ill-joined  realm.  In  842  the 
Venetians  negotiated  with  Lothair,  titular  King  of 
Italy,  a  treaty  which  gave  them  large  privileges, 
subsequently  confirmed  or  extended  during  many 
generations.  Even  when  a  rejected  aspirant  to  the 
dogeship  fled  to  the  German  sovereign  —  as  hap- 
pened in  the  tenth  century  —  and  besought  him  to 
make  war  on  the  Republic,  friendly  relations  were 
not  long  interrupted.  A  sudden  illness  took  off 
Otto  II,  who  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  unpa- 


34  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

triotic  Caloprini,  and  removed  the  peril.  Already 
Venice  had  discovered  that  a  foreign  policy,  founded 
on  reason  and  carried  out  consistently,  enables  a 
comparatively  weak  nation  to  win  against  the  brag- 
gart or  veering  policy  of  stronger  rivals. 

With  the  Eastern  Emperors  she  had  a  similar 
experience.  If  one  were  harsh,  his  successors  might 
be  friendly.  The  Venetians  made  no  effort  to  rid 
themselves  of  a  merely  nominal  suzerainty,  nor  did 
the  Byzantine  suzerain  strive  to  convert  his  nomi- 
nal lordship  into  an  actual  mastery.  In  the  earlier 
days  it  had  hardly  been  worth  while  for  the  Eastern 
Empire  to  conquer  the  remote  and  inconspicuous 
commonwealth  on  the  Lagoons;  now  Venice  had 
grown  too  strong  to  fear  any  fleet  that  could  be 
equipped  at  Constantinople;  what  served  to  keep 
the  two  at  peace  was  the  fact,  acknowledged  by  each, 
that  they  were  mutually  helpful.  As  the  commerce 
of  Venice  expanded,  it  drew  the  bulk  of  its  supplies 
from  the  East.  The  Adriatic  was  but  a  broad  avenue 
leading  down  to  the  Ionian  and  ^gean  seas,  whose 
shores  were  dotted  with  prosperous  cities,  thronging 
with  merchants  as  eager  to  sell  as  the  Venetians  to 
buy.  And  now,  when  the  Saracens  had  become 
a  redoubtable  marine  power,  the  Greeks  saw  that 
their  interest  lay  in  keeping  the  growing  navy  of 
the  Lagoons  on  their  side. 

The  maritime  supremacy  of  Venice  over  the  Adri- 
atic began  through  the  need  of  the  Istrians  for  pro- 
tection from  the  Slavic  pirates ;  this  she  promised 
in  return  for  one  hundred  jars  of  wine  every  year. 


II  BUILDING  THE  STATE,  810-1096  35 

There  was  at  first  no  question  of  suzerainty;  to 
have  raised  it,  would  have  precipitated  a  conflict 
with  the  Greek  Emperor.  In  her  territorial  expan- 
sion she  left  much  to  time,  never  dropping  the 
substance  to  snap  at  the  shadow.  The  Imperial 
authority  inevitably  lapsed,  and  then  she  was  at 
hand  to  supplant  it. 

Of  very  few  of  the  Venetians  of  this  epoch  can 
we  recover  the  personal  features.  Most  of  those 
who  have  survived  even  by  name  were  either  doges 
or  patriarchs,  who  stand  out  as  types  rather  than  as 
individuals.  Nor  is  this  surprising;  for  as  the 
earliest  chronicle  extant  dates  from  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century,  its  writer  had  to  depend  on  tradition 
or  hearsay  for  his  account  of  what  happened  before 
he  was  born;  hence  Anafesto  was  as  far  behind 
Sagorninus  as  Marlborough  is  behind  us.  And  yet 
several  modern  historians  amplify  details  about  each 
personage,  assigning  motives  which  nobody  can  ver- 
ify, and  specifying  personal  traits  which  may  or 
may  not  be  lifelike,  with  a  confidence  that  must 
astonish  those  who  distinguish  between  fact  and 
conjecture.  The  general  trend  of  development  we 
do  know,  and  we  have  considerable  testimony  con- 
cerning several  of  the  most  important  events ;  but 
this  does  not  warrant  us  in  drawing  imaginary  por- 
traits of  the  men  themselves. 

And  yet  some  of  the  names  and  the  deeds  asso- 
ciated with  them  are  memorable.  We  should  recall 
how  Pietro  Tradonico  (836-64)  was  the  first  doge  who 
strove  to  rid  the  Adriatic  of  the  Dalmatian  pirates ; 


36  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

how  he  saw  the  great  arniament  he  had  equipped 
against  the  Saracens  routed  at  Crotona,  and  how 
he  negotiated  the  crucial  treaty  with  Lothair.  After 
him  Orso  Badoer  I  (864-81),  in  a  long  quarrel  over 
investiture,  maintained  the  religious  independence 
of  Venice  against  the  Pope.  Pietro  Tribuno  (888- 
912),  who  was  the  next  remarkable  doge,  repelled 
the  Hungarians.  At  last,  with  Pietro  Candiano  IV 
(959-76),  we  come  to  a  personage  whose  career  an 
eye-witness  has  described. 

His  reign  marks  another  crisis  in  our  story.  He 
brought  down  on  the  Republic  the  displeasure  of 
Otto  II  —  the  Emperor  who  forbade  intercourse  be- 
tween his  subjects  and  the  Venetians,  and  who  had 
planned  an  invasion  when  death  overtook  him.  Nor 
was  this  Doge  more  happy  in  the  East,  where  the 
Emperor,  John  Zimiskes,  who  happened  to  be  a 
soldier,  threatened  to  destroy  the  Venetian  mer. 
chant  marine  unless  the  practice  of  supplying  arms 
and  ships  to  the  infidels  were  stopped.  At  odds 
with  both  East  and  West,  Candiano  drove  his  own 
subjects  to  desperation.  He  put  away  his  wife  and 
married,  for  the  sake  of  her  dower,  Hwalderada, 
sister  of  the  Marquis  of  Tuscany.  He  kept  a  large 
guard  of  foreign  mercenaries  in  his  palace.  The 
people,  suspecting  that  he  intended  to  establish  a 
tyranny,  rose  in  fury,  set  fire  to  the  palace,  and  de- 
stroyed it  and  its  occupants,  together  with  St.  Mark's 
Church  and  over  three  hundred  other  buildings. 
When  the  doge,  in  a  frantic  effort  to  escape,  rushed 
out  through  the  flames,  with  his  infant  son  in  his 


BUILDING  THE  STATE,   810-1006  37 

arms,  the  pitiless  avengers  slew  both  (976).  With 
that  as  a  warning,  no  subsequent  doge  played  so 
openly  for  the  great  stakes  of  absolutism. 

Fifteen  years  later,  Pietro  Orseolo  II  (991-1008), 
an  imposing  medieval  figure,  came  to  the  ducal 
throne.  He  was  one  of  those  statesmen  who  so 
magnify  everything  they  touch  that,  as  we  look 
back,  it  seems  as  if  they  had  not  merely  directed, 
but  created  issues.  Where  there  is  genius,  the 
miracle  of  Moses's  rod  and  the  water  gushing  from 
the  rock  in  Horeb  is  always  repeated.  Orseolo 
knew  the  temper  and  capacity  of  his  countrymen 
and  the  actual  political  condition  of  Christendom 
through  and  through :  accordingly,  he  knew  how 
far  he  could  safely  aggress.  The  Holy  Eoman 
Empire  being  weak,  he  negotiated  with  its  great 
feudatories  in  Northern  Italy  commercial  treaties, 
which  the  Emperor  himself  confirmed.  Venice 
thereby  secured  trading  privileges  and  set  up  new 
factories  as  far  as  the  Alps.  Orseolo  clashed  with 
the  Bishops  of  Belluno  and  Treviso,  and  compelled 
them  to  restore  lands  belonging  to  Venice  which 
they  had  seized,  and  to  permit  freedom  of  trade 
along  the  Sile  and  the  Piave.  From  the  Greek 
Emperor  he  secured  the  most  advantageous  terms, 
—  some  new,  others  revived.  A  special  tariff  for  the 
Venetians,  a  special  quarter  devoted  to  them  in 
Constantinople,  and  special  laws  in  their  favor,  — 
such  the  concessions  which  Emperor  Basil  granted 
in  his  chrysobol  in  return  for  the  promise  of  the 
aid  of  the  Venetian  fleet  whenever  he  needed   it. 


38  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

The  Doge  went  farther  and  drew  up  a  commercial 
treaty  with  the  Saracens.  They  might  harass  the 
Greek  Emperor  —  but  what  of  that?  The  treaty 
assured  the  continuation  of  traffic,  already  lucrative, 
with  Sicily,  Egypt,  and  Syria.  The  interests  of 
Venice  were  not  identical  with  those  of  the  Eastern 
Empire ;  why,  then,  should  she  quarrel  rather  than 
trade  with  her  neighbor's  enemies  ? 

These  achievements  give  the  measure  of  Orseolo's 
extraordinary  power  as  a  statesman.  His  conquest 
of  the  Dalmatian  pirates  brought  him  glory  which 
was  commemorated  yearly  until  the  end  of  the  Ke- 
public  by  one  of  the  most  gorgeous  pageants  ever 
devised.  On  Ascension  Day,  in  the  year  1000,  the 
Doge  and  his  captains,  after  hearing  mass,  set 
sail  with  a  great  fleet.  They  skirted  Istria,  whose 
people  welcomed  them  as  deliverers ;  they  made 
festival  at  Zara  and  Spalatro,  and  then  they  pushed 
on  to  their  real  business,  —  the  extermination  of  the 
pirates.  Having  taken  Curzola,  they  stormed  La- 
gosta,  the  corsairs'  capital,  and  put  its  inhabitants 
to  the  sword.  Thereafter  there  was  security. 
Orseolo  mailed  back,  victorious  and  stately,  along 
the  coast,  now  untroubled  from  Eagusa  to  Istria; 
and  so  home,  where  he  was  received  with  great 
rejoicing. 

To  have  strengthened  Venetian  trade  on  the  neigh- 
boring mainland,  to  have  cemented  friendship  with 
both  Emperors,  who  were  mutually  antagonistic, 
and  with  the  Saracens,  whom  both  hated  and  the 
Eastern  Emperor  feared ;  and  to  have  bridled  the 


II  BUILDING  THE  STATE,  810-1090  39 

corsairs  —  such  the  titles  to  fame  of  Pietro  Orseolo 
the  Second,  the  State-Builder. 

As  a  preliminary  to  these  conquests  abroad,  he 
had  secured  harmony  at  home.  His  countrymen 
loved  him  and  regarded  the  honors  that  were  heaped 
upon  him  as  paid  to  the  Commonwealth.  Emperor 
Otto  III  not  only  served  as  godfather  to  his  eldest 
son,  but  visited  Venice  incognito,  in  order  to  see  the 
great  man.  One  son  married  the  sister  of  King 
Stephen  of  Hungary,  another  the  niece  of  the  Greek 
Emperor,  and  his  daughter  became  the  wife  of  the 
King  of  Croatia.  No  other  contemporary  sovereign 
had  prouder  dynastic  connections.  But  Fate  did  not 
spare  him.  He  died  in  his  forty-eighth  year,  worn 
out  by  his  exertions  in  peace  and  war,  and  bereaved 
at  the  loss  by  pestilence  of  large  numbers  of  his 
people  and  of  a  son. 

Another  son.  Otto,  succeeded  him ;  a  public-spir- 
ited man,  who  lacked,  however,  his  father's  genius. 
There  came  reverses  not  wholly  chargeable  to  him. 
For  a  brief  space  the  Patriarchate  of  Grado  was 
wrested  from  Venice  —  a  loss  not  to  be  borne.  But 
the  real  objection  to  Otto  Orseolo  lay  in  une  grow- 
ing suspicion,  which  envious  tongues  fostered,  that 
he  was  perpetuating  a  dynasty.  Had  the  Vene- 
tians in  the  early  days  of  the  doges  traversed  the 
ambitions  of  the  Galbaii,  and  later  broken  loose 
from  the  dynastic  bonds  of  the  Badoeri  and  Can- 
diani,  only  to  surrender  their  liberty  to  the  House 
of  Orseolo  ?  They  left  no  doubt  as  to  their 
temper  when  they  seized  Doge  Otto,  shaved   his 


40  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

head,  and  sent  him  forth  an  exile  to  Constanti- 
nople (1026). 

Six  years  later,  under  Domenico  Flabianico,  who 
had  been  a  strenuous  opponent  of  the  Orseoli,  the 
arrengo  decreed  that  no  member  of  that  family- 
should  thereafter  be  eligible  to  hold  office;  that, 
as  a  precaution  against  an  hereditary  dukedom, 
no  doge  should  be  permitted  to  associate  any 
one  with  him  in  the  dogeship;  that  two  ducal 
councilors  should  assist  the  doge  in  the  ordinary 
despatch  of  business ;  and,  finally,  that  in  emer- 
gencies or  matters  of  great  moment,  he  should 
request  the  advice  of  the  chief  citizens  of  the 
Republic. 

These  laws,  adopted  in  1032,  fixed  immutably  the 
place  of  the  doge  in  the  Venetian  system.  They 
exorcised  the  dynastic  spectre,  but  they  also  fore- 
shadowed the  coming  ascendency  of  an  oligarchy. 
The  eight  or  ten  great  families  or  clans,  which  had 
been  striving  among  themselves  for  mastery,  could 
not  suffer  that  one  of  their  number,  through  having 
a  doge  in  office,  should  be  lifted  above  the  others ; 
much  less  that  by  establishing  a  dynasty  he  should 
exclude  them  from  the  chance  of  taking  their  turn 
on  the  throne.  How  these  great  families  originated 
is  as  uncertain  as  how  they  grew ;  but  that  is  true 
everywhere.  Several  of  the  names  most  famous 
in  the  golden  age  of  the  Republic  appear  among 
its  earliest  records.  By  the  eleventh  century  the 
ruling  families  had  reached  the  solution  of  their 
long  contest.    Elsewhere  in  Europe,  wherever  the 


II  BUILDING  THE   STATE,   810-1096  41 

monarchical  principle  prevailed  and  the  crown  was 
hereditary,  the  struggle  lay  uniformly  between  the 
crown  and  the  great  feudatories,  the  crown  bent 
on  restricting,  the  feudatories  bent  on  maintaining, 
their  virtual  independence.  In  the  non-monarchical 
Italian  cities  the  contest  usually  narrowed  down 
to  two  families,  of  which  the  victorious  set  up 
an  hereditary  despotism.  The  oligarchy  of  Venice 
seems  to  be  due  to  the  combination  of  her  elective 
monarchy,  her  freedom  from  feudal  shackles,  and 
her  great  clans,  numerous  and  strong  enough  to 
prevent  any  one  of  them  from  permanently  overtop- 
ping the  rest.  The  proved  impregnability  of  the 
Eepublic  also  contributed  to  this  result,  by  render- 
ing ineffectual  every  attempt  of  pretenders  to  be 
enthroned  by  foreign  aid. 

The  tendency  toward  oligarchy  did  not,  however, 
lessen  the  popular  love  of  liberty,  or  the  belief  of 
the  people  that  they  were  their  own  masters.  Hil- 
debrand  said  that  the  spirit  and  love  of  liberty  of 
the  ancient  Romans  survived  in  them.  Just  what 
part  they  had  in  the  actual  government  after  the 
eighth  century  can  hardly  be  determined,  but  they 
seem  to  have  had  a  vital  part.  The  arrengo,  or 
assembly  of  all  the  citizens,  was  summoned  on  im- 
portant occasions,  and  its  vote  was  decisive.  Classes 
there  were,  —  maggiori,  mediocri,  and  minor i,  "  up- 
per, middle,  and  lower,"  —  but  we  have  no  proof 
that  they  had  not  equal  rights  in  the  assembly.  It 
may  be  suspected  that  a  small  body  really  gov- 
erned the  state  and  elected  the  doges,  and  merely 


42  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

announced  its  plans  or  candidates  for  popular  con- 
currence. This  method  would  give  the  people  the 
power  of  veto,  which  it  undoubtedly  exercised,  but 
that  any  deception  could  have  been  kept  up  so  art- 
fully, generation  after  generation,  that  the  people 
could  not  penetrate  it,  seems  unlikely.  In  study- 
ing the  operation  of  every  form  of  government,  we 
must  distinguish  between  theory  and  practice.  In 
theory,  for  instance,  the  citizens  of  more  than  one 
American  city  are  self-governing ;  they  go  through 
all  the  forms  of  a  popular  election ;  they  even  talk 
vehemently  about  principles ;  but  in  fact  their  city 
may  be  administered  by  a  narrow  ring  of  legal  and 
moral  criminals,  who  have  never  dared  to  appear 
openly  as  candidates  for  office.  So  the  French 
Empire  under  Napoleon  III,  or  the  Prussian  King- 
dom under  William  I,  although  styled  constitu- 
tional, were  genuine  despotisms. 
l_If  we  are  puzzled  by  the  paradox  that  the  Vene- 
tians still  believed  they  had  a  popular  government, 
when  they  really  had  an  oligarchy,  we  must  seek 
for  the  things  behind  the  names.  We  must  dismiss 
at  once  the  assumption  that  any  nation,  least  of  all 
so  high-spirited  a  nation,  could  have  been  politically 
enslaved  for  centuries  without  knowing  it.  The 
oligarchy  developed  so  naturally  that  all  classes 
looked  upon  it  as  the  best  safeguard  of  the  state. 
Popular  indignation,  fear,  or  whim  exploded  against 
many  a  doge,  but  no  popular  revolution  ever  put 
the  oligarchic  system  in  jeopardy.  The  Venetians 
found  it  compatible  with  freedom  as  they  conceived 


n  BUILDING  THE  STATE,  810-1096  43 

it ;  and  they  were  satisfied  with,  the  thing,  whatever 
its  name.  [ 

Toward  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  Venice 
had  to  cope  with  a  new  rival  —  the  Normans. 
Those  wonderful  buccaneers,  unscrupulous,  greedy, 
and  brave,  set  up  their  kingdom  in  Sicily  (1072), 
only  six  years  after  their  kinsmen  had  conquered 
Saxon  England.  Their  leader,  Kobert  Guiscard, 
passed  from  Sicily  to  Southern  Italy,  and  thence  to 
Greece,  dazzled  by  a  vision  of  empire  which  em- 
braced the  conquest  of  both  Rome  and  Constanti- 
nople. The  Greek  Emperor  in  alarm  asked  aid  of 
Venice,  and  Doge  Selvo  hurried  to  the  rescue  with 
a  fleet  of  sixty-three  ships.  He  fell  in  with  the 
Normans  at  Durazzo,  defeated  them,  and  sailed 
home  in  triumph  (1081).  Guiscard,  however,  was 
soon  ready  for  another  campaign;  and  before  the 
Doge  could  intervene,  he  routed  an  army  com- 
manded by  the  Greek  Emperor,  retook  Durazzo,  and 
confidently  awaited  the  return  of  the  Venetians. 
Selvo  met  him  near  Cephalonia,  won  two  naval 
fights  in  three  days,  and  imagining  that  he  had  dis- 
posed of  the  Normans,  he  remained  in  those  waters 
with  only  a  part  of  his  fleet.  Handicapped  by  this 
imprudence,  he  was  utterly  routed  in  a  fourth  en- 
counter with  Guiscard  (November,  1084),  barely 
escaped  to  Venice  with  a  remnant  of  his  fleet,  and 
quickly  abdicated  in  order  to  appease  the  wrath  of 
his  countrymen.  They  took  it  for  granted  that 
their  generals  muso  come  back  victorious,  or  not  at 
all  —  a  stern  rule,  which  makes  no  allowance  for 


44  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE         chap,  n 

extenuating  circumstances,  but  which  conduces  to 
victory.  No  nation,  which  has  held  the  doctrine 
that  war  is  an  affair  in  which  defeat  can  be 
extenuated,  has  ever  prospered  in  war.  Fate  was 
kind  to  Venice,  for  death  overtook  Robert  Guiscard 
(1085)  before  he  could  profit  by  his  victory.  When 
the  Normans  and  Venetians  next  met,  it  was  as 
allies  in  the  First  Crusade. 


CHAPTER  III 

VENICE   AND  THE  CRUSADES 

History  furnishes  no  parallel  to  those  vast  ex- 
peditions against  the  Moslem  on  which  during  the 
next  two  centuries  the  Western  Christians  em- 
barked. Their  original  object,  the  liberation  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  seems  trivial,  unless  we  realize  how 
bizarre  a  medley[tlie  religion  of  the  medieval  man 
had; become.  It'contaiiied  a  little  ethical  teaching, 
a  great  deal  of  dogma,  and  a  much  larger  share  of 
magic;  and  it  was  by  the  magic  —  in  the  form  of 
miracles,  portents,  holy  relics,  amulets,  charms, 
incantations  —  that  it  touched  multitudes  of  the 
semicivilized,  and  consequently  superstitious,  who 
were  too  dull  to  be  moved  by  moral  precepts  and 
too  ignorant  to  understand  dogina*  Magic  for 
magic,  what  else  in  the  whole  world  could  compare 
with  the  very  tomb  in  which  the  Saviour  had  lain  ? 
Given  the  credulity,  what  more  logical  than  to 
strive  to  recover  that  spell-working  marvel?  If 
medieval  sages  spent  their  lives  in  search  of  the 
Philosopher's  Stone  and  the  Elixir  of  Youth,  should 
not  kings  and  lords  do  as  much  to  win  something 
infinitely  more  potent  than  any  elixir  ? 

Some  historians  regard  the  Crusades  as  an  episode 
46 


46  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

in  that  greatest  of  world-dramas  —  the  ancient 
conflict  between  Asia  and  Europe;  the  unending 
struggle,  in  which  the  wars  between  Greece  and 
Persia,  and  between  Rome  and  Carthage;  the 
Saracenic  conquest  of  Spain  and  Sicily;  the  Cru- 
sades ;  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from  Sj^ain  and 
the  planting  of  the  Turks  in  Europe,  —  marked 
each  a  crisis,  but  brought  no  conclusion.  The 
Crusaders  themselves,  we  may  be  sure,  were  not 
conscious  of  playing  in  such  a  drama.  Even  the 
religious  motive  was  not  so  simple  to  them  as  it 
seems  to  us.  With  their  zeal  to  redeem  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  were  bound  up  grievances,  political 
ambitions,  commercial  hopes,  desire  of  vengeance 
and  of  destroying  the  Mahometan  power  which  had 
for  four  hundred  years  harassed  Christendom  or 
kept  it  in  constant  alarm,  the  power  which  pro- 
faned the  holy  places  by  possessing  them,  the 
power  whose  frontier  checked  the  Christians  when- 
ever they  wished  to  advance  east  or  south. 

These  causes,  and  others  more  obscure,  prepared 
the  emotions  of  Christians  to  leap  into  action  at 
Peter  the  Hermit's  call.  The  quick  response  from 
every  part  of  Western  Europe  showed  an  emotional 
solidarity  which  has  had  no  equal,  either  in  depth 
or  extent,  in  the  record  of  religious  revivals,  pious 
manias,  and  popular  zealotries.  Venice  alone,  of  the 
states  best  able  to  respond,  held  back,  not  because 
she  was  less  religious  than  her  neighbors,  but  be- 
cause she  had  traded  with  the  Saracens  too  long  to 
regard  them  as  necessary  enemies,  and  her  career 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  47 

as  a  commercial  nation  had  taught  her  to  count  the 
cost  before  plunging  into  any  enterprise. 

So  the  Venetian  government  waited  until  the 
news  came  that  the  Christians  had  taken  Jerusa- 
lem (1099).  Then  they  fitted  out  a  fleet,  and  Doge 
Vitale  Michiel  I  embarked  with  an  enthusiastic 
army  for  the  Holy  Land.  More  than  religious  zeal 
now  urged  them  on,  for  they  foresaw  that  Chris- 
tian conquests  in  the  Orient  would  open  a  great 
field  for  commerce.  They  resolved  that  this  field 
should  be  theirs,  and  they  had  the  satisfaction  of 
believing  that  in  serving  God  they  were  enriching 
their  Eepublic. 

Before  ever  they  caught  sight  of  a  hostile  turban, 
however,  they  were  tangled  in  a  snarl  of  political 
complications.  The  Greek  Emperor,  nominal  suze- 
rain of  Palestine,  frowned  on  the  expedition  of  the 
Latin  Christians,  which  bade  fair  to  deprive  him  of 
even  this  empty  title.  He  endeavored  to  dissuade 
the  Venetians  from  joining  the  Crusaders;  failing 
in  that,  he  hired  a  fleet  of  Pisan  galleys  to  fall  on 
the  Venetians  unawares.  Doge  Michiel  suspected 
treachery,  surprised  the  Pisans  at  Rhodes,  destroyed 
their  armament,  and  then  proceeded  to  Jaffa.  At 
his  coming  the  Crusaders  rejoiced,  and  with  his  help 
set  about  reducing  the  port  of  Haifa. 

During  more  than  twenty  years  following,  there 
was  seldom  a  season  when  ships  flying  the  banner 
of  St.  Mark  did  not  actively  aid  the  Christians  in 
Syria.  Among  their  many  exploits,  none  exceeded 
in  picturesqueness  the  capture  of   Tyre,  by  Doge 


48  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Domenico  Michiel  (1124).     The  Crusaders  being  in 
doubt  whether  to  lay  siege  to  Tyre  or  to  Ascalon, 
let  fortune  decide  it,  and  an  "  innocent  orphan  boy  " 
drew  out  of  an  urn  the  lot  marked  "  Tyre."  |  Before 
the  siege  began  the  Barons  of  the  kingdom  of  Jeru- 
"salem  promised  that  the  Venetians  should  thence- 
forth have  in  every  city  of  the  kingdom  a  bakery, 
a  bath,  a  market,  and  a  free  quarter;  that  v^^herever 
the  Venetians  went,  their  own  law  should  follow 
them,  and  their  own  weights  and  measures  be  used ; 
/  I'that  they  should  be  exempt  from  taxation ;    that 
i  when  Tyre  and  Ascalon,  or  either,  were  conquered, 
I  a  third  of  each  city  should  belong  to  the  Venetians ; 
I  and  that  the  King  of  Jerusalem   should  pay  to 
Venice  an  annual  tribute  of  three  hundred  bezants. 
Thrifty,  indeed,  were  the  honest  sons  of  Venice  in 
serving  their  Lordjj  But  we  must  remark  that 
neither  the  standard  of  the  age  nor  their  own  con- 
sciences  saw  anything   inconsistent   in   this   com- 
bination of  Crusading  and  business.     The  modern 
land-grabber  shocks  our  moral  sense  by  his  hypoc- 
risy; being  wholly  bent  on  worshiping  Mammon, 
he  tries  to  hoodwink  us  with  his  pious  blarney  about 
devotion  to  God's  work.     The  moral  sense  of  the 
i^Crusaders,  on  the  other  hand,  had  not  been  quick- 
I   ened  beyond  the  point  where  for  a  Christian  to  kill 
I   or  to  enslave  an  infidel,  and  to  seize  his  property, 
was  adjudged  a  most  worthy  Christian  act.     The 
day  was  still  far  off  when  Christians   should   an- 
nounce that  they  slew  and  looted  for  the  good  of 
their  victims. 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  49 

The  Venetians  may  not  have  been  more  scrupu- 
lous than  their  allies,  yet  they  certainly  allowed 
none  to  excel  them  in  practicing  honor  as  they 
conceived  it.  Listen  to  a  story  of  their  conduct  at 
this  very  siege  of  Tyre :  "  One  day  it  happened," 
says  Martino  da  Canale,  "that  the  Barons  heard 
the  report  that  the  pagans  were  coming  to  succor 
those  of  Tyre.  They  told  the  Doge  of  it,  and  he 
said  to  them,  'Never  fear,  the  city  cannot  defend 
itself  so  that  we  shall  not  take  it.'  '  In  God's 
name.  Sir  Doge,'  said  one  of  the  Barons,  *  you  have 
your  fleet  ready,  and  so  you  are  not  afraid  to  be 
here ;  for  if  the  pagans  come,  you  will  quickly  em- 
bark and  sail  away.'  When  the  Doge  heard  that, 
he  at  onc§  commanded  the  Venetians  that  the  whole 
fleet  should  be  drawn  ashore;  and  the  Venetians 
obeyed  the  command  of  the  Doge.  And  when  the 
Doge  saw  the  fleet  on  shore,  he  ordered  that  a  plank 
should  at  once  be  knocked  out  of  the  bottom  of  each 
vessel.  And  when  the  Barons  of  France  saw  the 
fleet  of  the  Venetians  scuttled,  they  felt  sure  that 
the  Doge  and  the  Venetians  would  have  no  wish  to 
depart  thence  without  them." 

Tyre,  after  a  brave  resistance,  had  to  surrender,  — 
"  only  five  measures  of  wheat  left  in  all  the  city,"  — 
and  thereupon  the  Venetians  set  up  their  rule  in 
the  stipulated  third.  In  other  cities  of  the  Cru- 
saders' kingdom  they  settled  on  equally  sovereign 
terms,  and  appropriated  now  one  island  in  the 
^gean  and  now  another,  the  beginnings  of  a 
colonial  empire  which,  if  we   measure  it    by   the 


50  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

industrial  and  mechanical  resources  of  the  age  in 
which  it  flourished,  surpassed  even  the  modern 
British. 

The  First  Crusade,  which  they  were  the  tardiest 
to  join,  left  on  their  destiny  the  deepest  mark. 
From  traders  in  the  Levant  they  became  political 
owners,  with  the  responsibility  of  governing  and 
defending  their  new  possessions,  and  with  the  cer- 
tainty that  to  keep  what  they  had  got  would 
involve  conquering  more.  They  had  desired  com- 
merce only,  but  commerce  led  them  to  empire, 
which  they  assumed  reluctantly;  protesting  that, 
in  order  to  hold  their  own  against  their  great 
rivals,  the  Pisans  and  the  Genoese,  they  must 
secure  the  richest  concessions  in  the  Orient.  Were 
the  men  of  Venice  really  more  unselfish  than  the 
greedy,  enterprising  men  of  Genoa  and  Pisa  ? 

The  First  Crusade  seemed  to  portend  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  Saracenic  power  in  the  Levant,  and 
the  three  maritime  cities  of  Italy,  Pisa,  Genoa,  and 
Venice,  —  Amalfi  being  already  past  meridian, — 
were  vigorous  rivals  for  its  wealth.  Centuries  later, 
Spain,  France,  I*brtugal,  and  England  competed  for 
mastery  of  the  New  World  and  of  India;  and  just 
as  England,  after  a  long  and  varying  struggle,  van- 
quished her  competitors,  so  in  the  end  did  Venice. 
This  competition  is  another  element  in  her  politi- 
cal life,  which  was  constantly  operative  from  1100 
to  about  1400.  Sometimes  the  rivalry  intensified 
into  war ;  at  almost  all  times  it  was  an  irritation ; 
and  often  any  one  of  the  rivals  plundered  without 


m  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  51 

scruple  the  argosies  of  another,  if  he  caught  them 
unprotected. 

Her  prowess  at  the  siege  of  Tyre  gave  Venice 
great  prestige,  and  she  could  say  without  boasting, 
a  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  First  Crusade,  that 
she  had  reaped  a  richer  harvest  than  all  her  com- 
panions in  that  strange  enterprise,  and  had  taken 
steps  to  assure  increasing  prosperity  from  her 
Oriental  colonies.  But  nearer  home  she  had  suf- 
fered grave  reverses.  King  Stephen  of  Hungary, 
seeking  an  outlet  to  the  Adriatic,  swept  down  the 
Dalmatian  coast  and  seized  many  of  the  ports  which 
had  by  this  time  become  vassals  of  the  Kepublic. 
Doge  Ordelaffo  Falier  set  out  to  recover  them,  but 
was  killed  in  battle  at  Zara  (1118),  and  his  suc- 
cessor, Domenico  Michiel,  deemed  it  necessary  to 
accept  a  five  years'  truce  from  the  Hungarians. 
Venice  soon  perceived,  however,  that  unless  she  con- 
trolled the  eastern  shore  of  the  Adriatic,  she  could 
not  hold  her  distant  Oriental  possessions,  and  that 
her  very  existence  would  be  precarious.  Always 
keen  to  see  her  dominant  interest,  she  knew  the 
folly  of  pursuing  far-off  glories  at  such  a  cost. 
Doge  Michiel  delayed  hardly  a  week  after  the  sur- 
render of  Tyre  before  leading  his  fleet  on  a  new 
campaign.  He  first  devastated  Greece  and  the 
Archipelago  as  a  punishment  for  the  Greek  Emperor, 
who  had  abetted  the  Hungarians,  and  then  he  sailed 
up  the  Adriatic,  recovered  the  Dalmatian  fiefs,  and 
returned  home  to  enjoy  such  a  triumph  as  had  not 
been  seen  at  St.  Mark's  since  the  days  of  Orseolo 


52  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  Great.  When  he  died,  his  countrymen  carved 
his  epitaph,  "  Ten'or  Grcecorum  jacet  hie/'  and  his- 
tory has  justly  ranked  him  among  the  foremost  of 
the  doges.  His  reign  confirmed  to  Venice  the  mas- 
tery of  the  Adriatic ;  it  loosed  almost  to  the  point 
of  emancipation  her  traditional  allegiance  to  the 
Eastern  Empire ;  it  won  for  her  merchants  in  the 
Orient  conditions  so  advantageous  that  soon  her 
chief  interests  lay  there. 

I  Looking  back  over  the  career  of  any  nation  we 
fincT  continuity,  inevitableness,  the  rack-and-pinion 
sequence  of  cause  and  effect,  which  may  have  been 
only  dimly  suspected,  or  not  perceived  at  all,  by 
contemporaries  while  the  history  was  making ;  that 
is  the  illusion  the  logical  instinct,  from  which  we 
can  no  more  escape  than  from  our  temperament, 
weaves  for  us.  So  a  passion  for  logical  com- 
pleteness often  leads  us  to  attribute  a  fixity  of 
purpose  which  historic  personages  themselves  never 
wittingly  obeyed.  Oftener  still,  we  profess  a 
knowledge  of  motives  which  lie  quite  beyond  veri- 
fication. After  all,  if  this  is  a  rational  world, 
where  shall  we  seek  for  propf  of  its  rationality  save 
in  human  history?  And  if  there  be  gaps  in  the 
evidence,  as  frequently  there  are,  shall  we  not 
bridge  them  by  reasonable  conjectures?  Crude 
fact  or  shrewd  presumption  will  alike  avail  little, 
unless  we  learn  to  think  of  past  times  and  past 
men  as  present  and  alive;  as  plastic,  too,  swayed 
by  passion  and  whim  as  well  as  by  conscious  re- 
solve ;  with  to-morrow  still  before  them,  to-morrow 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  53 

big  with  possibilities,  as  free  as  air  for  any  will  to 
fly  in,  not  adamantine,  unchangeable,  fatal,  as  is 
time  past.   I 

Domenico  Michiel's  achievements  really  marked 
a  stage  in  the  expansion  of  Venice,  but  the  issues 
which  seem  to  us  to  have  been  predetermined  dur- 
ing his  reign  were  living  issues  for  two  generations 
after  him.  The  breach  with  Constantinople  wid- 
ened. An  emergency  —  the  efforts  of  Roger  II  of 
Sicily  to  conquer  the  Ionian  Islands  and  Greece  — 
brought  the  Doge  and  Emperor  Manuel  together 
for  a  while,  and  a  Venetian  fleet  worsted  the  Nor- 
mans and  helped  to  relieve  Corfu;  but  the  Vene- 
tians did  not  disguise  their  contempt  for  the 
Emperor,  even  though  he  was  their  ally,  nor  did 
they  hesitate  to  make  a  profitable  peace  with  Roger, 
even  though  he  had  been  recently  their  foe  (1148). 

At  odds  with  the  Eastern  Empire,  Venice  became 
embroiled  with  the  Western,  whose  sovereign, 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  dreamed  of  realizing  the  old 
dream  of  Imperial  supremacy  throughout,  Italy. 
Under  his  inefficient  predecessors  the  popes  had 
pushed  forward  their  temporal  power,  and  the 
cities,  especially  in  the  north,  had  almost  broken 
away  from  the  sense  of  feudal  obligations,  at  the 
expense  of  the  Emperor's  prestige.  The  cities 
withstood  bravely  Frederick's  first  acts  of  coercion, 
and  they  supported  the  claims  of  Pope  Alexander 
III  against  the  antipopes  whom  Frederick's  faction 
elected  to  the  Holy  See  (1159).  The  statesmen  of 
Venice,  with  traditional  tact,  understood  that  Fred- 


64  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

erick  was  much  more  to  be  feared  than  their  neigh- 
bors on  the  mainland,  and  so  they  sided  with  the 
cities  and  the  Pope.  Frederick  set  Padua,  Verona, 
and  Ferrara  against  the  Kepublic,  and  they  re- 
sponded willingly,  because  for  them  Venetian  ambi- 
tion was  a  constant  menace.  He  also  found  a  ready 
coadjutor  in  the  Patriarch  of  Aquileia,  who  attacked 
and  expelled  the  Patriarch  of  Grado.  That  insult 
exasperated  the  Venetians.  They  easily  overcame 
the  Patriarch  and  the  lords  of  Friuli  behind  him, 
and  thenceforth  every  year  Venice  received  from 
Aquileia  a  tribute  of  twelve  hogs  and  eleven  loaves, 
—  the  hogs  to  commemorate  the  Patriarch  and  his 
bishops,  the  loaves  to  symbolize  the  barons.  In 
their  sarcasm,  the  children  of  the  Lagoon  were 
vigorous,  but  coarse. 

Whilst  Frederick  Barbarossa  was  tarrying  beyond 
the  Alps  till  he  could  collect  a  sufficient  army  and 
find  a  favorable  moment  for  descending  on  the  Lom- 
bard League  of  cities,  Manuel,  the  Eastern  Emperor, 
struck  an  unexpected  blow  at  Venice  (March  7, 
1171).  He  ordered  that  all  Venetians  within  his 
Empire  should  be  arrested  and  imprisoned  and 
their  property  confiscated.  If  the  statistics  we  have 
can  be  at  all  relied  on,  —  Constantinople  alone  being 
'credited  with  two  hundred  thousand  Venetian  in- 
habitants,—  this  edict  affected  more  persons  than 
the  entire  home  population  of  the  Eepublic  then 
numbered.  When  the  news  of  the  affront  reached 
Venice,  there  was  a  furious  demand  for  vengeance, 
which  the  government  proceeded  to  satisfy  by  equip- 


HI  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  55 

ping  post-haste  a  great  armament.  To  provide 
means,  they  taxed  the  population  one  per  cent,  of 
their  net  income,  issued  bonds  bearing  four  per 
cent,  interest,  and  created  the  first  funded  debt  in 
Europe.  In  a  hundred  days  they  had  ready  a  fleet 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  ships  and  thirty  trans- 
ports, which  sailed  down  the  Adriatic  manned  by 
crews  full  of  hope  and  rage.  Their  admiral.  Doge 
Vitale  Michiel,  instead  of  making  straight  for  the 
Golden  Horn,  ill-ad visedly  waited  in  Negropont, 
whilst  an  embassy  bore  his  ultimatum  to  the  Em- 
peror. Manuel  simply  seized  the  ambassadors  and 
threw  them  into  prison,  gaining  so  much  time  by 
the  delay  that  Michiel  concluded  to  winter  at  Schio, 
so  as  to  be  sure  of  a  better  season  before  attacking 
Manuel  in  his  capital.  Spring  had  not  come,  how- 
ever, before  the  plague  infected  his  forces.  They 
died  by  thousands,  and  the  remnant,  barely  a  tenth 
of  those  who  had  set  out,  returned  to  Venice  in  the 
early  spring,  bringing  with  them  the  plague  instead 
of  victory.  The  Venetians,  maddened  by  this 
scourge  and  by  the  military  disaster,  for  both  of 
which  they  held  the  Doge  accountable,  killed  him. 
Their  commanders  must  win,  or  die. 

This  popular  outburst  marked  another  change  in 
the  constitution  of  the  Republic.  Hitherto,  the 
doge  had  been  elected  in  a  general  assembly  of  all 
the  citizens,  or  at  least  the  appearance  of  an  open 
election  was  kept  up.  But /beginning  with  Sebas- 
tian Ziani,  in  1172,  the  choosing  of  the  doge  became 
the  perquisite  of  the  aristocracy.     Each  of  the  six 


56  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

quarters  or  sestieri  of  the  city  named  two  repre- 
sentatives ;  each  of  these  pairs  named  forty  of  the 
notables  of  their  sestiere,  and  the  four  hundred  and 
eighty  persons,  or  Great  Council,  thus  selected 
chose  the  doge.  Every  year  at  Michaelmas  the 
Great  Council  renewed  itself  through  a  nominat- 
ing committee  composed  of  its  own  members.  The 
people  were  practically  disfranchised,  being  allowed 
to  vote  for  only  the  original  two  representatives  from 
each  sestiere.  They  rebelled  against  this  usurpation 
of  their  rights,  and  forced  the  aristocracy  to  concede 
that  the  populace  should  assemble,  after  the  Grand 
Council  had  voted,  and  that  the  new  doge  should  be 
presented  to  them  with  the  words,  "This  is  your 
doge,  if  it  please  you."  Their  assent  came  to  be 
taken  for  granted  until  the  custom  of  asking  it  died 
out.j 
]^  ^s  usualjithe  tactful  statesmen  of  Venice  knew 
how  to  keep  the  substance  and  let  the  shadow  go. 
i  In  their  remodeling,  they  intended  not  only  to  steady 
the  government  by  putting  it  out  of  the  reach  of 
popular  gusts,  but  also  to  curtail  the  powers  of  the 
doge ;  which  they  did  by  depriving  him  of  many  of 
his  prerogatives,  and  by  increasing  to  six  the  number 
of  ducal  councilors,  whose  business  it  was  to  keep 
him  within  the  strict  limits  of  the  law.  This  was 
the  third  and  final  stage  in  the  development  of  the 
dogeship.  The  Venetians  had  formerly  taken  care 
that  their  ruler  should  be  neither  despotic  nor 
dynastic ;  now  they  set  their  wills  against  his  being 
an  autocrat.     As  they  deprived  him  of  power,  they 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  57 

added  pomp.  The  merchant  aristocracy  began  openly 
to  govern  the  state.  | 

On  Ziani,  the  first  doge  of  the  new  order,  fell  the 
burden  of  ransoming  his  imprisoned  countrymen  by 
paying  the  Eastern  Emperor  a  million  and  a  half 
sequins.  He  avoided  open  hostilities  with  Freder- 
ick Barbarossa,  and  withdrew  from  the  Lombard 
League.  The  battle  of  Legnano  (1176),  in  which 
Barbarossa  was  overwhelmed  by  the  League,  left 
Venice  in  the  happy  position  of  a  neutral ;  and  the 
following  year,  when  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
agreed  to  meet  and  discuss  a  peace,  they  chose 
Venice  for  their  rendezvous.  It  was  fitting  that 
the  Republic,  which  had  preserved  its  independ- 
ence of  Church  and  State  alike,  should  now  act 
as  their  host  and  mediator.  The  magnificence  of 
the  hospitality  which  Venice  gave  them  dazzled 
the  imagination  of  their  contemporaries,  and  many 
legends  grew  out  of  the  story  of  that  summer.  But 
the  facts  of  the  meeting,  in  which  the  forces  of  the 
medieval  world  seemed  for  a  moment  to  be  at  con- 
cord, transcend  the  embellishments  of  fiction.  The 
truce  between  Empire  and  Church  could  not  be 
permanent;  the  turn  of  fortune's  wheel  would 
inevitably  bring  Venice  into  conflict  now  with  the 
Pope  and  now  with  the  Emperor :  but  the  Doge 
had  been  host  and  arbiter  for  both,  without  ac- 
knowledging himself  the  man  of  either. 

Very  soon  after  this  the  last  thread  which  bound 
Venice  to  the  Eastern  Empire  was  cut.  Friendship 
had  long  given  way  to  hatred,  and  the  early  alle- 


58  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

giance,  never  more  than  formal,  was  disavowed.  The 
Venetians  resented  the  indignities  which  Emperor 
Manuel  heaped  on  their  countrymen  in  1171 ;  the 
disaster  which  overwhelmed  Doge  Michiel,  and  the 
ransom  which  Doge  Ziani  paid  perforce,  rankled: 
but  as  they  were  a  people  who  could  long  nurse  a 
grievance  in  silence,  they  resumed  their  commercial 
relations  with  Constantinople  and  said  nothing, 
biding  their  time.  The  Byzantines,  on  their  side, 
construing  the  victory  which  chance  gave  them 
as  proof  of  their  military  superiority,  indulged  their 
propensity  for  superciliousness.  For  generations 
they  had  looked  upon  the  sturdy,  rough-shod  Vene- 
tian merchants  much  as  other  races  in  the  nineteenth 
century  looked  upon  the  Britisher,  whose  trade  could 
not  be  stopped,  although  his  ill-mannered  master- 
fulness made  him  personally  insufferable. 

The  occasion  which  brought  the  final  rupture  was 
a  new  Crusade.  The  Saracens  under  Saladin  having 
reduced  the  Christians  in  Syria  to  desperate  straits, 
Fulk  of  Neuilly-sur-Marne  went  through  France  ex- 
horting the  faithful  to  hasten  to  their  rescue,  and  a 
new  pope.  Innocent  III,  offered  indulgences  and  his 
blessing  to  all  who  should  listen  to  Fulk's  appeal. 
The  Barons  of  France  and  Flanders  were  stirred  to 
take  the  Cross,  under  the  leadership  of  Thibaut, 
Count  of  Champagne,  and  of  Louis,  Count  of  Blois, 
two  nephews  of  the  king.  In  the  company  were 
Simon  de  Montfort  and  Renaud  de  Montmirail, 
Godfrey  de  Joinville,  Walter  de  Brienne,  Macaire 
de  Sainte-Menehould,  Renaud  de  Dampierre,  Mat- 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  59 

thieu  de  Montmorency,  Conon  de  Bethune,  and 
Godfrey  de  Ville-Hardouin,  Marshal  of  Champagne, 
—  the  flower  of  medieval  French  nobility,  whose 
names,  like  old  damask,  gorgeous  though  faded,  call 
up  associations  of  valor  and  romance.  They  de- 
spatched six  messengers  to  Venice  to  bargain  for 
transportation  to  the  Land-beyond-the-Sea.  The 
doge  at  that  time  was  Enrico  Dandolo,  in  all  re- 
spects one  of  the  greatest  of  medieval  figures,  and 
physically  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  whom 
there  is  any  record.  A  typical  Venetian,  he  had 
had  the  widest  experience  of  affairs  as  merchant, 
as  ambassador,  as  soldier,  as  councilor,  and  now  as 
doge ;  prudent,  shrewd,  resourceful,  and,  despite  his 
eighty-nine  years,  indomitable  and  energetic ;  dim- 
eyed  almost  to  blindness,  but  erect,  handsome,  vigor- 
ous, and  hardy.  Dandolo  was  the  twelfth-century 
version  of  the  Homeric  Odysseus. 

He  received  the  embassy  cordially,  and  after 
eight  days'  deliberation  replied  that  Venice  would 
furnish  transports  for  4500  horses  and  9000  squires, 
and  ships  for  4500  knights  and  20,000  foot  soldiers, 
with  nine  months'  provisions,  at  the  rate  of  four 
marks  per  horse  and  two  marks  per  man,  or  85,000 
marks  in  all.  The  envoys  accepted  the  terms, 
which  Dandolo  summoned  the  citizens  to  ratify.  A 
vast  concourse  gathered  in  St.  Mark's  Church, 
where,  after  mass  had  been  celebrated,  Godfrey  of 
Ville-Hardouin  addressed  them.  "'Sirs,'  he  said, 
^the  most  exalted  and  puissant  of  the  Barons  of 
France  have  sent  us  to  you,  and  they  beg  your  favor, 


60  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

that  you  may  be  seized  with  pity  for  Jerusalem, 
which  is  in  bondage  to  the  unbelievers,  and  that 
for  God's  sake  you  will  consent  to  aid  them  to 
avenge  the  shame  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  they  have 
chosen  you  because  they  know  that  no  people  on 
the  sea  has  so  great  power  as  you.  And  they  bade 
us  to  fall  at  your  feet,  and  not  to  rise  until  you 
grant  that  you  will  have  pity  on  the  Holy  Land 
beyond  the  sea/  Then  the  six  messengers  knelt  at 
their  feet,  weeping  much ;  and  the  Doge  and  all  the 
others  began  to  weep  for  the  pity  which  they  had, 
and  they  cried  out  all  in  one  voice,  and  lifted  their 
hands  and  said, '  We  grant  it !  we  grant  it ! '  Then 
there  was  so  great  a  noise  and  so  great  an  uproar 
that  it  seemed  indeed  as  if  the  earth  quaked."  ^ 

This  dramatic  scene,  typical  of  the  Crusading 
epoch,  with  its  mingling  of  piety  and  hard-headed 
business,  took  place  in  March,  1201.  Ville-Hardouin 
and  his  companions  sped  back  to  France  to  report 
that  by  St.  John's  Day,  1202,  Venice  would  be 
ready. 

At  the  appointed  time,  however,  only  a  part  of 
the  Crusaders  had  come  to  Venice;  the  rest,  dis- 
regarding the  contract  which  the  envoys  had 
accepted  in  their  name,  either  chose  other  routes 
to  the  East  or  renounced  the  Crusade  altogether. 
The  prospective  leader,  Thibaut  of  Champagne,  was 
dead;  Boniface,  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  succeeded 
him,  and  he  and  the  Barons  who  kept  their  tryst 

1  Ville-Hardouin :  De  la  Conqueste  de  Constantinoble  (Paris, 
1838),  pp.  8-9. 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  61 

paid  to  the  Doge  their  share  of  the  stipulated  sum 
and  blushed  at  their  comrades'  faithlessness.  The 
Venetians  were  reluctant  to  claim  their  bond  with- 
out a  fair  delay,  and  so  spring  grew  into  summer, 
while  all  waited  in  the  hope  that  the  requisite  men 
and  money  would  turn  up.  The  Crusaders'  camp 
on  the  Lido  became  a  den  of  gamesters,  harlots,  and 
mountebanks,  where  the  soldiery  squandered  their 
health  and  morals;  disease  took  off  many,  and 
many  deserted.  Yet  thirty-four  thousand  of  the 
eighty-five  thousand  marks  still  remained  unpaid. 
The  collapse  of  the  expedition  seemed  imminent. 

The  Venetians  were  beginning  to  lose  patience, 
when  Doge  Dandolo  bethought  him  of  an  arrange- 
ment by  which  they  might  recover  what  they  had 
spent  without  forcing  the  Barons  to  forfeit,  as  the 
letter  of  the  contract  permitted,  the  fifty-one  thou- 
sand marks  already  paid.  For  a  long  while  past  the 
kings  of  Hungary  had  coveted  Dalmatia,  and  since 
1173  they  had  held  Zara.  Dandolo  now  said  to  his 
countrymen  that,  while  they  might  legally  confiscate 
the  Crusaders'  instalments,  such  sharpness  would  be 
generally  blamed ;  he  proposed,  instead,  to  offer  to 
remit  the  remainder  on  condition  that  the  Crusaders 
should  agree  to  aid  the  Venetians  in  reconquering 
Zara,  on  their  way  to  Palestine.  The  Barons  of 
France,  after  much  controversy  among  themselves, 
accepted  the  terms,  and  again  St.  Mark's  Church 
witnessed  a  great  ceremony,  in  which  the  climax  was 
reached  when  Dandolo  mounted  the  pulpit  and 
declared,  in  tones   which   smote  the  multitude  to 


62  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

tears :  "  I  am  an  aged  man  and  a  feeble,  and  I  need 
repose,  and  my  body  is  infirm  ;  but  I  see  none  in  our 
people  who,  better  than  I,  could  lead  you  and  fight. 
If  you  permit  my  son  to  stay  at  home  in  my  place, 
to  guard  and  govern  the  country,  I  will  now  take  the 
Cross  and  will  go  with  you  to  live  or  die,  whichever 
God  shall  have  ordained  for  me."  —  "  We  agree  !  " 
shouted  the  multitude,  "  and  in  God's  name  we  pray 
you,  dear  Sire,  to  take  the  Cross  and  come  with  us."  ^ 

In  this  wise  the  Venetians  themselves  became 
Crusaders  and  embarked  with  the  Barons  of  France 
and  Flanders  on  the  Fourth  Crusade.  They  planned 
first  to  reduce  Zara,  and  then  to  push  on  to  the 
Land-bey ond-the-Sea,  where  the  Venetians  and  their 
allies  should  divide  all  conquests,  share  and  share 
alike.  On  October  8, 1202,  more  than  three  months 
later  than  the  date  first  set,  the  great  fleet  weighed 
anchor.  It  consisted  of  fifty  galleys,  equipped  by 
the  Kepublic,  sixty  transports,  sixty  long  ships,  and 
one  hundred  and  ten  transports  for  horses.  True  it 
was  that  no  other  maritime  power  could  have  fitted 
out  such  an  armament. 

That  an  expedition  of  Christians,  organized  to 
war  on  Saracens,  should  make  the  subjugation  of 
other  Christians  its  first  object,  was  too  anomalous 
to  escape  criticism,  even  in  that  time  of  uncertain 
morals.  Early  in  the  summer,  Cardinal  Peter  of 
Capua  had  inveighed  against  the  project,  threaten- 
ing that  if  the  Crusaders  persisted,  they  would  incur 
the  highest  Papal  censure.  Some  of  the  French  con- 
1  Ville-Hardouin,  p.  21. 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  63 

tingent  wished  to  heed  the  Cardinal,  but  whether 
because  they  felt  religious  compunction  or  welcomed 
any  excuse  for  withdrawing  from  an  enterprise  they 
had  tired  of,  who  can  say  ?  Most  of  them,  however, 
readily  accepted  Dandolo's  argument  when  he  told 
them  that  it  would  be  most  rash  to  leave  behind 
them  in  the  Adriatic  an  enemy  who  could  cut  off 
their  communications.  The  plea  of  "  military  exi- 
gency "  sufficed  then,  as  it  always  does ;  and,  more- 
over, war  being  their  trade,  the  Crusaders  were  not 
too  particular  as  to  whom  they  fought  with,  so  long 
as  the  sport  were  brisk  and  their  hope  of  victory 
and  spoils  were  large.  The  Venetians  further 
showed  their  independence  of  the  Pope  by  inform- 
ing Cardinal  Peter  that  he  might  accompany  the 
expedition  as  a  private  Crusader,  but  not  as  a  Papal 
legate. 

We  need  waste  little  time  in  condemning  the  per- 
version of  this  Crusade  from  its  original  holy  pur- 
pose of  killing  Saracens  and  confiscating  their  land. 
The  best  of  the  Crusades,  judged  by  rudimentary 
morals,  was  iniquity  ill-disguised.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Venetians  acted 
disingenuously,  nor  fell  a  hair's  breadth  below  the 
highest  mark  of  honor  as  then  conceived.  The  Papal 
protest  might  indicate  a  higher  code  did  we  not  re- 
member that  then  as  now  Popes  launched  their  so- 
called  spiritual  thunderbolts  for  political  rather  than 
moral  ends.  To  the  Venetians,  especially,  the  Pope 
was  not  a  religious  head  so  much  as  a  wily  political 
adversary.     And,  after  all,  for  Crusader  to  prey  on 


.64  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Crusader  did  not  necessarily  rouse  medieval  Popes 
to  wrath;  witness  the  recent  quarrel  of  Philip 
Augustus,  Richard  I,  and  their  associates  in  the 
Third  Crusade.  At  the  outset,  when  the  Barons  of 
France  requested  transportation,  Venice  stood  in 
the  same  relation  that  a  modern  steamship  company- 
stands  toward  a  missionary  board  wishing  to  secure 
passage  for  a  cargo  of  missionaries.  She  fulfilled 
her  part  of  the  contract  by  having  ships  and  provi- 
sions ready  at  the  appointed  time;  and  when  the 
Barons  failed  in  theirs,  she  obligingly  allowed  them 
to  save  the  money  which  she  might  have  claimed  as 
forfeit,  on  condition  that  they  should  serve  her. 
Dandolo  and  his  countrymen  did  not  come  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  See  until  they  them- 
selves took  the  Cross;  but  even  then,  true  Vene- 
tians that  they  were,  they  paid  slight  reverence  to 
Papal  commands. 

The  expedition  which  embarked  under  such  am- 
biguous circumstances  came  in  due  time  to  Zara, 
which,  although  reputed  one  of  the  strongest  cities 
in  Christendom,  quickly  fell  before  the  superior  en- 
gines and  forces  of  the  Crusaders.  Winter  being 
now  at  hand,  the  Venetians  proposed  to  stay  there, 
where  their  ships  had  a  safe  haven;  the  Franks 
unwillingly  complied.  A  new  temptation  soon 
arose  to  turn  the  Crusaders  a  second  time  away 
from  their  original  plan.  Alexis,  the  son  of  Isaac 
Comnenos,  the  deposed  Greek  Emperor,  appeared  at 
Zara  and  besought  the  allies  to  restore  his  father  to 
his  throne.     This  had  plainly  nothing  to  do  with 


m  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  65 

punishing  wicked  Saracens;  but  the  unfortunate 
youth  inspired  pity,  and  as  he  promised,  in  his 
father's  name,  that  he  would  not  only  heal  the  schism 
between  the  Latin  and  Greek  Churches,  but  also  pay 
the  cost  of  the  fleet  and  army  for  a  year,  give  a  sub- 
sidy of  two  hundred  thousand  marks  for  the  wa^r 
against  the  Soldan,  and  himself  lead  an  army  of  ten 
thousand  men  to  that  war  and  maintain  perpetually 
a  guard  of  five  hundred  knights  in  the  Holy  Land 
—  against  all  these  inducements  the  Signors  of 
Venice  and  the  Barons  of  France  could  not  hold 
out.  Might  they  not  in  honesty  declare  that,  by  se- 
curing a  zealous  coadjutor  at  Constantinople,  they 
were  taking  the  very  best  means  to  strengthen  the 
Christians  in  Syria  ?  Yet  the  decision  caused  dis- 
cord. The  White  Friars,  through  their  spokes- 
man, the  Abbot  of  Vaux,  denounced  the  scheme 
as  wicked.  Pope  Innocent,  who  had  so  vehemently 
condemned  the  assault  on  Zara  before  it  happened, 
pardoned  the  Franks  for  that  iniquity,  but  bade  them 
beware  of  committing  another.  Some  of  the  pil- 
grims abandoned  the  expedition ;  but  the  main  body 
of  the  allies  held  together,  and  in-the  spring  pro- 
ceeded to  Constantinople. 

We  are  not  concerned  here  to  follow  the  military 
operations,  nor  the  snarled  skein  of  political  in- 
trigues, during  the  Latin  conquest  of  the  Eastern 
Empire.  That  story,  checkered  with  heroic  ex- 
ploits, with  cowardice,  with  chicane,  with  cruelty, 
can  still  be  best  read  in  the  quaint  pages  of  Ville- 
Hardouin.     The  expedition  differed  in  no  respect 


66  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

except  its  larger  scale  from  Norman  William's  con- 
quest of  Saxon  England,  or  a  foray  on  the  Scottish 
border,  or  any  other  act  of  banditry.  The  Crusaders 
salved  their  consciences,  as  Norman  William  had 
salved  his,  by  insisting  that  they  were  engaged  on 
the  pious  mission  of  ousting  a  usurper ;  but  when 
they  had  deposed  the  usurper,  the  legitimate  ruler 
whom  they  restored  would  not  or  could  not  pay  the 
price  agreed  on.  After  waiting  until  their  patience 
gave  out,  they  flung  down  an  ultimatum  which  he 
could  not  satisfy.  A  revolution  broke  out  in  the 
palace ;  there  was  a  frantic  attempt,  by  the  upstart 
Murzuphle,  to  overwhelm  the  Latins,  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  their  rally  and  complete  victory,  which 
left  them  masters  of  Constantinople  and  of  the 
Eastern  Empire  (April  12,  1204). 

A  triumph  so  dazzling  has  rarely  been  chroni- 
cled. The  Crusaders  numbered  at  the  most  forty 
thousand  men,  while  Constantinople,  a  city  which 
had  never  surrendered  to  an  enemy,  had,  according 
to  a  plausible  estimate,  four  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants capable  of  bearing  arms.  Before  the  final 
capture,  for  twenty-one  months,  during  which  defeat 
meant  annihilation,  the  Latins  maintained  them- 
selves against  such  odds.  Grant  that  the  Greek 
Emperors  proved  incompetent  and  cowardly,  and 
that  their  miscellaneous  troops  —  there  were  Eng- 
lish and  even  Danes  among  them  —  ran  away  at 
the  critical  moment,  nevertheless  the  valor  of  the 
Crusaders  was  as  conspicuous  as  their  audacity  and 
their  fortitude.     Well  might  Ville-Hardouin  believe 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  67 

that  never  since  the  world  was  created  had  so  great 
an  affair  been  undertaken  by  any  people.  One  epi- 
sode out  of  a  myriad  shines  after  seven  centuries. 
At  the  first  attack  from  the  harbor,  Doge  Dandolo 
stood  on  the  prow  of  his  galley,  armed  cap-a-pie, 
the  gonfalon  of  St.  Mark  before  him,  the  garrison 
showering  arrows  and  stones  from  the  city  walls ; 
and  the  Doge  cried  out  to  his  men  that  if  they  did 
not  quickly  put  him  ashore  he  would  chastise  them. 
They  obeyed,  and  after  a  little  while  the  gonfalon 
of  St.  Mark  flew  from  one  of  the  city  towers. 

In  the  destruction  of  the  Greek  Empire,  Venice 
had  her  retribution  for  the  humiliation  which  she 
and  her  merchants  had  suffered,  and  Dandolo  him- 
self had  a  personal  revenge,  if  it  be  true  that  when 
he  once  went  on  a  mission  to  Stamboul,  the  Emperor, 
to  show  his  contempt  for  Venice,  threw  him  into 
prison.  To  justify  this  final  perversion  of  the  Cru- 
sade might  worry  even  a  Jesuit  master  of  casuistry ; 
and  yet  Innocent  III,  who  of  all  the  popes  most 
deserved  to  be  called  Leo,  —  Innocent,  who  had 
disapproved,  chidden,  and  excommunicated,  in  vain, 
—  discovered  that  it  would  be  politic  to  accept  the 
results  of  an  expedition  which  he  had  step  by  step 
condemned.  "  The  designs  of  Providence  are  im- 
penetrable," he  wrote  the  conquerors.  '•  You  acted 
unjustly  ;  but  the  Greeks  had  sinned  and,  to  punish 
them,  God  made  use  of  you.  Since  this  land  has 
thus  fallen  to  you  as  a  judgment,  we  believe  that 
we  may  authorize  you  to  keep  it.  If  you  govern 
justly,  if  you  bring  the  peoples  into  our  holy  com- 


68  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

m  union,  if  you  restore  the  goods  of  the  Church,  if 
you  are  penitent,  and,  above  all  else,  if  you  persist 
in  the  fulfilling  of  your  vow,  —  we  hope  God  will 
pardon  you."^  Thus  could  the  mightiest  of  the 
popes  condone  a  great  public  crime  by  construing 
it  as  an  act  of  divine  justice.  The  formula  is  still 
popular  and  fits  every  case. 

The  Venetians  were  unquestionably  the  backbone 
of  the  expedition.  While  their  allies  lacked  leader- 
ship and  quarreled  among  themselves,  or  floundered 
irresolute  between  two  policies,  they  were  united 
under  their  redoubtable  Doge,  and  never  feared  to  do 
the  thing  they  resolved  on.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  campaign  against  the  Eastern  Emperor  was 
in  their  original  intention.  They  meant  merely  to 
recover  Zara;  beyond  that,  they  trusted  to  chance 
to  repay  them  for  equipping  their  fifty  galleys. 
Their  interest  demanded  that  they  should  make 
a  great  show  of  power  in  the  Orient,  where  their 
fame  had  lately  been  somewhat  dimmed.  Chance, 
in  which  they  confided,  rewarded  them  beyond  all 
expectations,  almost  crushing  them  by  her  excessive 
bounty,  as  the  Sabines  crushed  Tarpeia.  The  sack 
of  Constantinople  alone  amounted  in  portable  loot 
to  eighty  million  francs,  of  which  the  Venetians 
had  their  moiety. 

After  gorging  their  lusts  and  their  greed,  the 
Crusaders  had  to  establish  a  government  to  replace 

1  Quoted  by  Daru,  Storia  di  Venezia  (Capolago,^1837),  I, 
280.  The  vow  was,  of  course,  to  drive  the  Saracens  out  of 
Palestine. 


Ill  VENICE  AND  THE  CRUSADES  69 

that  which  they  had  swept  away.  Dandolo  having 
declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  Emperor,  the  choice 
lay  between  Baldwin  of  Elanders  and  Boniface  of 
Montferrat.  The  former  was  elected,  to  the  satis- 
faction, perhaps  with  the  connivance,  of  the  Vene- 
tians. According  to  agreement,  Tommaso  Morosini 
was  elected  patriarch;  but  the  previous  consent 
of  the  Pope  had  not  been  obtained,  and  Innocent 
sternly  denounced  this  infringement  on  his  apos- 
tolic jurisdiction ;  then  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  con- 
firm an  election  which  he  could  not  annul. 

In  the  partition  of  the  Empire,  the  Emperor  re- 
ceived a  fourth  part,  the  Venetians  and  the  other 
Crusaders  sharing  equally  the  other  three  parts. 
The  Venetians  saw  to  it  that  their  allotment  should 
include  the  islands  and  coasts  most  accessible  to 
their  commerce.  The  Cyclades  and  the  Sporades, 
the  Ionian  archipelago,  Negropont,  Crete,  the  east- 
ern shores  of  the  Adriatic,  the  coasts  of  Thessaly, 
of  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  of  the  Black  Sea,  with 
ports  in  the  Morea,  made  an  uninterrupted  chain  from 
Venice  to  Trebizond.  The  destiny  of  the  Republic 
seemed  assured.  But  the  new  Emperor  had  scarcely 
been  enthroned  before  he  and  his  allies  were  called 
out  to  block  the  advance  of  Bulgarians  and  Comans, 
a  portent  of  a  struggle  in  which  the  Christians  were 
at  last  to  succumb.  Amid  these  first  ominous  troubles 
Dandolo,  fresh  from  battle,  died  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
four  (June  14,  1205).  They  buried  him  with  great 
pomp  in  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  and  many  years 
later,  when  the  Empire  which  he  had  wrested  from 


70  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE        chap,  iii 

the  Greeks  had  fallen  a  spoil  to  the  Turk,  Sultan 
Mohammed  II  allowed  the  casque  and  cuirass  and 
sword  of  the  warrior  Doge  to  be  returned  to  his  de- 
scendants in  Venice.  There  could  be  no  fitter  relics 
of  indomitable  Enrico  Dandolo. 


CHAPTER  IV 

IMPERIAL  GROWTH -THE  GREAT  RIVAL,  1205-64 

The  Latin  conquest  of  Constantinople  was  as 
unexpected  as  that  of  India  by  the  British,  as  un- 
premeditated as  the  discovery  and  acquisition  of 
the  New  World  by  Spain.  When  such  immense  re- 
sults are  brought  about  so  casually,  shall  we  argue 
that  not  law,  but  caprice  determines  our  human  lot  ? 
The  event  assuredly  lies  beyond  man's  foresight ; 
but  what  he  makes  of  it  depends  upon  himself. 
The  Venetians  had  gone  out  in  quest  of  commerce : 
when  they  suddenly  found  themselves  partners  in 
an  empire,  instead  of  being  bewildered,  they  pro- 
ceeded with  their  characteristic  shrewdness  to  re- 
adjust their  system  to  the  new  demands.  Never  were 
conquerors  more  keen  to  discern  their  ve^l  interests 
and  to  let  the  rest  go.  Their  Doge  might  have  been 
Emperor,  but  they  could  not  be  allured  by  an  empty 
title  which  carried  with  it  the  most  arduous  respon- 
sibilities. While  Baldwin  and  his  successors  were 
wearing  themselves  out  in  quelling  revolts  at  home 
and  in  resisting  foreign  invaders,  the  Venetians 
would  pursue  their  vast  commercial  enterprises  unin- 
terruptedly. They  virtually  made  the  Eastern  Em- 
peror bear  the  burden  of  government,  while  they 
71 


72  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

reaped  the  profits.  The  enormous  special  privileges 
which  they  enjoyed  in  the  great  cities;  the  marts, 
factories,  and  trading  posts  which  they  controlled 
throughout  the  Levant ;  and  the  lands  and  islands 
which  they  took  as  their  share  in  the  partition,  con- 
stituted an  empire  based  not  on  military  power  biit 
on  commerce  4- an  empire  to  which  Great  Britain 
alone  in  later  times  has  had  the  counterpart.  To 
reduce  her  responsibilities  still  further,  Venice, 
that  had  never  submitted  to  the  feudal  system 
herself,  created  fiefs  of  her  larger  possessions  and 
assigned  them  to  her  grandees,  who  had  to  pay 
tribute  besides  defraying  the  cost  of  administration. 
The  Dandolo  held  Andros  in  fee;  Marco  Sanudo 
was  lord  of  the  Cyclades  with  the  title  of  Duke 
of  the  Archipelago ;  the  Querini  ruled  over  Stampa- 
lia;  Marco  Venier  was  Marquis  of  Cerigo;  Jacopo 
Barozzi  had  Santorino.  For  a  thousand  gold  marks 
the  Republic  bought  Candia,  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  her  territories,  from  the  Marquis  of 
Montferrat.  She  was  mistress  of  Corfu  also,  until 
1221,  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Epirots. 
All  that  enlightened  selfishness  —  or  call  it  po- 
litical foresight  —  could  suggest,  the  Venetians  did. 
It  is  well  to  remember  this  in  estimating  their 
statecraft,  because  some  historians,  made  wise  by 
the  sequel,  have  written  as  if  every  one  but  a  fool 
ought  to  have  recognized  in  1204  that  their  con- 
quest of  Constantinople  would  eventually  lead,  by 
a  roundabout  road,  to  the  ruin  of  the  Republic. 
The  Venetians'  perversion  of  the  Fourth  Crusade  into 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  73 

a  plundering  expedition  has  absolutely  no  excuse 
before  the  bar  of  justice ;  morally  it  is  as  detestable 
as  the  infamous  restorations  of  the  Holy  Alliance, 
or  as  any  of  the  British  conquests  in  India,  or  the 
partition  of  Poland,  or  the  American  invasion  of 
Mexico  in  1847,  or  the  Prussian  thugging  of  Saxony 
in  1866,  or  Louis  Napoleon's  military  occupation  of 
the  States  of  the  Church,  or  as  any  other  of  the 
abominations  of  which  history  is  full. 

Judged  from  the  standpoint  of  Venetian  self- 
interest  in  1204,  however,  the  conquest  itself,  with 
the  new  policy  which  it  called  for,  was  fully  justi- 
fied. It  removed  from  Constantinople  a  dynasty 
with  which  the  Venetians  had  long  nursed  a  sullen 
quarrel.  It  not  only  gave  them  a  great  advantage 
over  their  old  rivals,  the  Genoese  and  the  Pisans, 
in  ports  where  they  traded  in  common,  but  also 
made  them  masters  of  a  maritime  empire  which 
promised  under  their  wiser  rule  to  increase  rapidly 
in  wealth.  It  exalted  their  prestige  as  a  nation, 
not  merely  of  merchants  and  traders,  but  of  war- 
riors and  rulers,  in  an  epoch  when  success  in  war 
was  the  general  criterion  of  worth.  Moreover,  there 
seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  all  these  immense  bene- 
fits, which  were  self-evident  to  Dandolo  and  his 
advisers,  might  not  endure  as  far  in  the  future  as 
any  one  could  look.  Until  mortals  shall  be  endowed 
with  the  gift  of  prophecy,  it  is  unlikely  that  any 
conquerors  will  act  with  more  sagacity  than  the 
Venetians  displayed  in  dealing  with  the  problems 
which  confronted  them   during   and   immediately 


74  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

after  the  Fourth  Crusade.  Only  a  person  afflicted 
with  the  old  Greek  dread  of  a  prosperity  too  con- 
spicuous could  have  augured  ill  to  the  Republic  at 
her  sudden  transformation  into  an  empire. 

If  material  and  political  prosperity  may  be  inter- 
preted as  a  sign  of  Divine  approval,  the  Venetians 
had  every  reason  to  assume  throughout  the  thir- 
teenth century  that  God  was  on  their  side.  They 
had  wars  to  wage,  of  course,  for  war  was  almost 
chronic  then ;  but  they  ran  no  serious  risk,  and 
their  victories  added  to  their  renown.  The  new 
problems  which  the  Empire  thrust  upon  them,  though 
often  intricate,  were  still  evidences  of  abounding 
vigor  —  tasks  well  within  the  reach  of  a  rising 
nation. 

'  It  took  several  years  to  establish  the  Imperial 
system.  Every  distant  town  in  the  Levant  must 
have  its  hailo  or  local  governor,  who  represented  the 
authority  and  guarded  the  interests  of  the  mother 
city.  There  were  collectors,  inspectors,  judges,  to 
be  appointed,  feudatories  to  be  created  and  overseen, 
and  methods  to  be  devised  for  handling  the  in- 
creased volume  of  commerce.  When  Candia,  after 
several  years'  trial,  persisted  in  rebelling,  Venice 
set  up  a  colony  there  (1211)  under  the  command 
of  a  duke,  confirmed  annually,  assisted  by  six  cap- 
tains. The  colonists,  among  whom  were  many 
members  of  the  great  families  as  well  as  sturdy 
Venetian  burghers,  received  their  fiefs  on  condition 
that  they  should  defend  them,  and  should  furnish 
in  time  of  need  their  quota  to  the  national  forces. 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  75 

The  native  Candiots  did  not  quickly  outgrow  their 
love  of  independence,  but  under  the  Venetian  rule 
they  prospered  as  never  before,  and  at  last  they  ac- 
cepted Venice  as  their  country  as  honestly  as  Wales 
accepted  England.  The  serious  rebellions  which 
broke  out  later  in  the  island  were  Venetian  rather 
than  Candiot  in  intent. 

The  shifting  to  the  Orient  of  the  commercial 
centre  of  gravity  produced  a  danger  which  Dandolo 
had  probably  not  foreseen.  Within  less  than  twenty 
years  after  the  conquest  of  Constantinople,  a  party 
arose  at  Venice  to  favor  the  transfer  of  the  capital 
from  the  Lagoons  to  the  Bosphorus.  The  proposal 
was  urged  with  such  persuasiveness,  and  its  sup- 
porters were  so  influential  and  numerous  that,  when 
put  to  the  test  in  the  Great  Council,  it  was  de- 
feated by  but  a  single  vote.  The  facts  concerning 
this  startling  transaction  may  never  be  verified ; 
some  historians  doubt,  others  deny  them  ;  and  yet 
the  legend,  which  is  as  well  authenticated  as  much 
that  passes  for  history,  must  have  had  some  real 
foundation,  and  is  therefore  worth  repeating. 

The  Doge,  Pietro  Ziani,  laid  before  the  Great 
Council  the  reasons  for  removal.  He  described  the 
magnificent  Empire  of  which  Venice  had  lately  be- 
come mistress,  —  Corfu,  Candia,  the  teeming  archi- 
pelagoes of  the  Ionian  and  ^gean  seas,  the  opulent 
sea-coast  cities,  each  a  link  in  the  great  chain  of 
commerce  that  reached  to  Constantinople.  He 
painted  in  seductive  colors  the  capital  of  the  East, 
—  its  vastness  and  wealth,  its  advantageous  position 


76  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

at  the  meeting  of  two  continents,  its  unrivaled 
harbor,  out  of  which  ships  might  sail  eastward  to 
Trebizond  and  the  Crimea,  or  westward  through  the 
Mediterranean  to  the  Atlantic  and  Farthest  Thule. 
He  contrasted  the  ease  of  life  there  with  the  diffi- 
culties at  Venice,  where  so  much  energy  had  to  be 
spent  merely  in  preserving  the  scanty  soil  on  which 
their  homes  were  built,  or  in  keeping  open  the 
shifting  channels,  the  arteries  of  their  city's  exist- 
ence; where  the  canals  exhaled  a  fetid  air,  and 
earthquake  or  flood  might  at  any  moment  over- 
whelm the  city.  Venice  depended  for  her  daily 
food  on  the  people  of  the  mainland,  who  were  not 
her  people,  and  who,  if  they  became  her  enemies, 
might  cause  her  to  starve.  At  Constantinople  food 
abounded.  But  above  all,  since  every  one  recog- 
nized that  the  Levant  held  the  sources  of  Venetian 
wealth,  common  prudence  warned  them  to  settle 
where  they  could  oversee  and  enjoy,  and,  if  need 
were,  defend  their  possessions.  The  Adriatic  meant 
three  hundred  leagues  of  unnecessary  carriage  for 
their  cargoes  —  a  voyage  which  storms  or  pirates 
might  interrupt,  and  which,  if  prosperous,  con- 
sumed time  and  food.  It  took  no  longer  to  sail 
from  Constantinople  to  Candia  than  from  Venice 
to  Corfu.  The  Latin  Empire  was  so  weak  that  it 
might  at  any  time  fall  a  prey  to  a  conqueror  hostile 
to  Venice,  or  the  great  population  of  Venetians  at 
Constantinople  might  seize  the  city  and  break  off 
their  allegiance  to  their  mother  country.  Every 
consideration  —  commercial,  military,  civic,  social, 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  77 

political  —  urged  them  to  go.  The  moment  was 
opportune ;  once  missed,  it  might  never  come  back. 
To  this  plea  of  Mammon,  uttered  by  the  lips  of 
the  Doge,  Angelo  Falier  replied.  As  to  risk  from 
natural  calamity,  he  said,  Kome  had  often  suf- 
fered from  floods,  but  not  on  that  account  had  the 
Komans  ignobly  proposed  to  abandon  their  city. 
Constantinople  was  not  free  from  earthquakes. 
The  difficulties  which-  the  Doge  complained  of 
had  been  blessings  to  the  Venetians ;  the  Lagoons, 
which  created  hardships,  gave  protection  in  return ; 
for  eight  hundred  years  no  foe  had  entered  their 
city.  Constantinople,  even  though  they  might 
occupy  it  without  resistance,  could  be  held  only 
with  a  large  garrison ;  the  country  round  it  must 
be  conquered  and  defended ;  and  it  would  be  con- 
tinually beset  by  barbaric  enemies  compared  with 
whom  their  own  rivals  in  Italy  were  but  petty 
annoyers.  One  defeat  at  Constantinople  would 
mfean  the  extinction  of  their  nation ;  for  they  would 
have  no  ally  to  call  upon,  no  refuge  to  flee  to.  Their 
new  Empire  in  the  Levant  Avas  undeniably  rich ; 
but  so  were  Dalmatia  and  Istria,  and  so  was  the 
commerce  which  they  owed  to  their  position  at  the 
head  of  the  Adriatic.  Should  they  give  up  the  old, 
with  its  certain  benefits,  for  the  sake  of  the  new, 
with  its  hazards,  its  untried  difficulties,  its  possible 
ruin  ?  Although  they  might  lose  their  possessions 
in  the  Ionian  and  in  the  ^gean,  and  lose  even 
Dalmatia,  so  long  as  they  held  Venice  they  would 
be  impregnable,  their  nation  would  be  safe.     If  the 


78  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

commercial  advantages  to  be  gained  were  tenfold 
greater,  would  any  Venetian  allow  them  to  out- 
weigh his  devotion  to  Venice,  his  mother,  the  home 
of  his  race  for  eight  centuries,  the  bestower  of  his 
blessings,  the  source  of  his  glory  ? 

Falier  concluded  his  appeal  on  his  knees,  with 
tears  streaming  down  his  cheeks.  A  hush  fell  over 
the  assembly,  and  for  a  while,  until  the  tellers  had 
taken  the  vote,  the  suspense  could  scarcely  be  en- 
dured. At  last  they  announced  the  result  of  the 
ballot,  —  three  hundred  and  twenty  for  removing 
to  Constantinople,  three  hundred  and  twenty-one 
against.  That  single  vote,  which  determined  —  who 
can  say  how  widely  ?  —  the  subsequent  history  not 
only  of  Venice,  but  of  Italy  and  the  East,  was  known 
ever  afterward  as  the  "  Vote  of  Providence." 

Whether  our  report  be  true  or  not  in  its  details, 
the  crisis  itself  came  about  the  year  1222,  when  the 
Venetians  had  had  sufficient  proof  of  the  utter  in- 
competence of  the  Latin  Emperors,  and  had  suffered 
much  from  the  depredations  of  Genoese  corsairs, 
who  lay  in  wait  for  the  Venetian  merchantmen 
in  the  lower  Adriatic.  A  vigilant  patrol,  and  the 
swift  punishment  of  the  corsairs  as  fast  as  they 
were  captured,  soon  restored  safety  to  commerce. 
At  Constantinople  the  Venetians  strengthened 
themselves  in  their  special  quarter,  and  organized 
their  trade  so  as  to  be  as  independent  as  possible  of 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  Imperial  government.  Ven- 
ice held  the  allegiance  of  her  emigrants  in  spite  of 
their  restlessness,  and  succeeded  even  better  than 


J 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  79 

England  has  done  in  making  her  children  in  far 
countries  feel  that  their  very  existence  was  bound 
up  in  hers. 

Throughout  the  thirteenth  century  the  Eepublic 
had  little  cause  to  regret  her  Imperial  expansion. 
Wealth  poured  in,  but  did  not  yet  weaken  the 
robust,  native  character.  Power  grew  apace;  in- 
deed, Venice  in  1250  was  the  most  powerful  state 
in  Europe.  Only  in  Italy  did  she  encounter  serious 
rivals.  Now  that  Pisa  had  declined,  Genoa  stood 
out  as  her  chief  competitor  for  maritime  supremacy  ; 
and  in  Sicily  there  had  arisen  a  great  king  who 
dreamed  of  conquering  Italy,  of  which  he  was  the 
titular  sovereign.  This  king,  Barbarossa's  grand- 
son, Frederick  II,  "the  wonder  of  the  world," 
waged  for  thirty  years  a  conflict,  intermittent  but 
fierce,  against  his  enemies  in  the  Peninsula,  and 
died  in  disappointment  and  defeat.  He  had  against 
him  for  chief  adversary  the  Papacy,  which  hap- 
pened in  those  years  to  be  guided  by  some  of  the 
most  memorable  of  all  the  popes.  The  little 
Italian  states  and  cities  took  sides,  this  Guelf,  that 
Ghibelline,  from  varying  motives.  Venice,  unable 
to  hold  aloof,  joined  the  new  Lombard  League  in 
behalf  of  the  Pope ;  for,  as  usual,  she  chose  to  sup- 
port the  party  which,  if  successful,  would  in  the 
long  run  do  her  least  harm.  Her  statesmen  knew 
that  a  Guelf  confederation  of  all  Italy  could  not 
possibly  last ;  but  that,  if  a  masterful  sovereign 
like  Frederick  should  conquer  the  Peninsula  and 
establish  a  united  kingdom,  Venetian  independence 


80  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

would  be  imperiled.  They  did  not  wish  to  see 
even  in  Sicily  a  strong  state;  for  Sicily,  besides 
being  very  fertile,  might  easily  from  her  position 
become  the  commercial  centre  of  the  age. 

In  the  weary  struggle  that  ensued,  a  struggle  not 
of  continuous  campaigning  but  of  alternate  outrages 
and  retaliation,  Frederick's  lieutenant  was  Ezzelino 
da  Romano,  tyrant  of  Padua,  whose  atrocities  sur- 
pass belief.  Had  a  man  of  equal  generalship  but 
of  humane  temper  been  in  his  place,  the  victories 
which  the  Ghibellines  won  might  have  led  to  per- 
manent dominion ;  but  at  last  Northern  Italy  rose 
in  desperation  against  Ezzelino :  he  lost  a  battle, 
was  wounded  and  captured,  and  in  rage  tore  the 
bandages  from  his  wounds  and  bled  to  death  (Sep- 
tember 27,  1259).  Frederick  had  already  been 
dead  nine  years,  taking  into  the  grave  with  him  a 
capacity  for  governing  such  as  not  half  a  dozen 
monarchs  since  his  time  equaled;  yet  he  bequeathed 
only  failure  and  discord  to  his  heirs.  That  a  man 
of  his  immense  endowments  should  have  been 
thrown  upon  an  epoch  when  he  could  not  properly 
exercise  them,  is  one  of  the  most  startling  examples 
of  the  sardonic  wastefulness  of  fate. 

With  Frederick's  death  vanished  the  possibility 
of  uniting  Italy,  which  was  henceforth  to  be  over- 
run by  foreign  conquerors  or  throttled  by  native 
despots,  who  seldom  reigned  through  two  generations 
and  never  brought  more  than  a  small  section  of  the 
country  under  a  single  sceptre.  Venice  had  in- 
creased her  military  prestige  in  her  wars  against 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  81 

Frederick  and  Ezzelino ;  she  had  also  kindled  a 
craving  for  actual  lordship  on  the  mainland,  and 
had  become  accustomed  during  more  than  twenty 
years  to  the  thought  that,  if  there  were  trouble  in 
Padua  or  Ferrara,  in  Treviso  or  Verona,  Venetian 
troops  should  be  despatched  to  interfere.  For  the 
present,  however,  she  made  no  attempt  to  conquer 
or  hold  the  neighboring  territory.  Other  business 
engrossed  her.  The  Latin  Empire  was  crumbling ; 
rivalry  with  Genoa  had  reached  a  warlike  stage. 

For  two  hundred  years,  conditions  had  been  pre- 
paring a  life-and-death  struggle  between  Genoa  and 
Venice.  During  these  years  Genoa  slowly  overtook 
and  passed  her  nearest  rivals,  the  Pisans ;  while 
Venice,  having  worsted  pirates,  Normans  and  Sara- 
cens, in  the  Adriatic,  had  risen  to  the  first  place  in 
the  Levant.  Still,  the  Genoese  carried  on  a  large 
trade ;  they  maintained  a  powerful  navy,  and  in 
their  roughness  and  pugnacity  they  showed  a 
Spartan  strain.  The  Venetians  were  unquestionably 
far  ahead  in  civilization,  but  not  the  less  were  they 
too  fighters.  Not  since  Rome  and  Carthage  con- 
tested for  the  supremacy  of  the  Mediterranean  had 
there  been  so  fierce  and  long  and  varying  a  mari- 
time competition. 

.The  quarrel  broke  out  over  the  ownership  of  the 
church  and  quarter  of  St.  Saba  at  Acre,  where  both 
the  Venetians  and  Genoese  had  long  held  commer- 
cial settlements.  A  row  between  their  sailors  led 
to  bloodshed,  whereupon  Luca  Grimaldi,  the  newly 
arrived  Genoese  Consul,  ordered  his  two  large  gal- 


82  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

leys  to  destroy  the  Venetian  shipping.  The  Venetian 
quarter  was  sacked  and  partly  burned,  and  its  in- 
habitants lived  in  daily  fear  of  being  exterminated 
(1256).  As  soon  as  the  Doge  heard  the  news,  he 
sent  an  embassy  to  Genoa  to  demand  redress.  The 
Genoese  curtly  refused.  Then  the  Venetians  fitted 
out  fourteen  galleys  in  all  haste,  set  Lorenzo  Tie- 
polo  over  them  as  admiral,  and  bade  him  punish 
without  delay.  In  due  season  he  appeared  before 
Acre,  broke  the  great  chain  by  which  the  Genoese 
hoped  to  bar  his  entrance,  set  fire  to  the  ships  in 
the  harbor,  and,  landing  his  men,  quickly  captured 
the  town.  The  Genoese  then  had  their  taste  of  sack 
and  pillage,  and  soon  sued  for  a  truce,  which  Tie- 
polo  granted. 

The  truce  proved  to  be  brief,  but  while  it  lasted 
the  Genoese  government  hurried  reinforcements  to 
Tyre;  and  when  their  admiral,  Pietro  Mallono, 
thought  he  was  strong  enough,  he  sailed  up  and 
down  before  Acre,  daring  the  Venetians  to  attack 
him.  Tiepolo  could  not  be  teased  into  a  premature 
sortie.  Having  made  ready,  he  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge, and  with  seventeen  galleys  defeated  Mallono's 
twenty-seven  near  Tyre.  That  disaster  crippled 
Genoa's  sea  power  in  the  East. 

The  Genoese  at  home  heard  the  evil  tidings  with 
rage.  "Now  let  such  vengeance  be  taken,"  they 
all  cried,  "  that  it  shall  never  be  forgotten."  The 
women  said  to  their  husbands :  "  We  do  not  want 
any  more  of  our  dowries,  either  for  life  or  for 
death.      Spend   them    on    vengeance."     And   the 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  83 

maidens  said  to  their  fathers  and  brothers  and 
other  kinsmen  :  "  We  do  not  desire  husbands.  All 
that  you  ought  to  give  us  for  them  spend  in  taking 
vengeance  on  the  Venetians,  and  you  will  pay  this 
debt  to  us  by  bringing  us  their  heads."  The 
Genoese  set  to  work  and  equipped  four  great 
ships  and  forty  galleys.  One  of  the  galleys  was 
equipped  by  the  women  and  another  by  the  maid- 
ens with  their  dowers.  Such  was  the  magnificent 
mettle  of  the  Genoese.^ 

Under  Eosso  della  Turca,  their  new  armament 
sailed  for  Syria  where,  on  August  24,  1258,  it  en- 
countered the  Venetian  fleet  commanded  by  Tiepolo. 
The  Genoese  had  the  advantage  in  the  number  and 
size  of  their  ships.  They  were  certainly  not  less 
valorous  than  the  Venetians;  but  Tiepolo  proved  the 
superior  tactician,  and  after  a  desperately  bloody 
battle  he  gained  a  complete  victory.  He  took 
twenty-five  Genoese  galleys  as  prizes  into  the  port 
of  Acre,  razed  the  Genoese  quarter  there,  and  re- 
turned in  triumph  to  Venice.  Among  his  trophies 
were  the  two  quaint  columns  still  standing  near  the 
Porta  della  Carta,  and  the  Pietra  del  Bando,  or 
block  of  porphyry  at  the  southwest  corner  of  St. 
Mark's. 

The  quarrel  between  the  republics  not  only 
threatened  to  exhaust  them,  but  it  weakened  the 
position,  already  much  impaired,  of  the  Christians 
in  the  Holy  Land.  Pope  Alexander  IV  accordingly 
acted  as  mediator,  and  by  combining  exhortation 
1  Da  Canale,  p.  463. 


84  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

with  ecclesiastical  menaces,  he  persuaded  them  to 
agree  to  a  truce,  which  they  observed  for  a  time, 
not  deceiving  themselves  with  the  delusion  that  the 
real  cause  of  hatred  had  been  removed. 

Two  years  later,  Michael  Paleologus,  an  ambi- 
tious Greek,  determined  to  recover  Constantinople 
and  restore  the  Greek  Empire.  The  plan  seemed 
easy,  for,  under  Baldwin  II,  the  Latin  government 
had  reached  the  point  where  it  would  collapse  at  the 
least  pressure,  and  Western  Europe,  except  Venice, 
had  no  interest  in  upholding  it.  But  knowing  that 
much  of  their  commercial  prosperity  depended  on 
having  at  Constantinople  a  ruler  friendly  to  them, 
and  that  if  Michael  the  Greek  succeeded,  he  would 
naturally  be  resentful,  the  Venetians  furnished  a 
subsidy  to  hire  troops,  and  sent  some  of  their  own 
galleys  into  the  Black  Sea  to  attack  the  Greek  city 
of  Daphnusia.  Nothing  could  save  Baldwin.  A 
small  force  of  Greeks  under  Michael's  general, 
Strategopoulos,  entered  Constantinople  without  re- 
sistance, and  was  busy  putting  the  hostile  quarter 
to  fire  and  sword  when  the  Venetian  squadron  sailed 
back  through  the  Bosphorus,  in  time  only  to  rescue 
those  of  their  fugitive  fellow-countrymen  who 
thronged  the  shore  (1261).  Michael  made  himself 
emperor,  and  as  the  Genoese  had  abetted  his 
schemes,  he  granted  them  special  commercial  privi- 
Jeges,  and  assigned  to  them  the  palace  which  had 
been  the  residence  of  the  Venetian  hailo.  For  the 
moment,  it  looked  as  if  Venice  had  lost  her  primacy 
in  the  Levant. 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  85 

Michael  soon  found  his  Genoese  allies  inconven- 
ient neighbors,  —  or  possibly  he  saw  that  it  would 
be  politic  not  to  break  utterly  with  the  Venetian 
and  Pisan  colonists,  —  for  he  removed  the  Genoese 
from  Stamboul  to  Galata,  on  the  opposite  shore  of 
the  Golden  Horn,  where  there  was  less  danger  of 
their  coming  to  blows  with  the  other  Italians.  Still, 
the  Venetians  knew  that  their  position  was  at  best 
insecure.  They  smarted  at  the  loss  of  prestige,  and 
resolved  to  crush  Genoa.  They  sent  embassies  to 
the  Pope,  to  Prance,  and  Spain,  to  urge  a  general 
campaign  for  the  recovery  of  Constantinople  from 
the  Greeks.  But  the  pleasant  words  they  received 
brought  neither  ship  nor  troop,  and  then  they  real- 
ized that  Western  Europe  had  decided  to  let  them 
fight  unaided  their  battles  in  the  East.  They  had 
destroyed  the  old  Empire  for  their  selfish  ends,  and 
they  must  take  the  consequences.  This  most  sen- 
sible decision  showed  that  the  Crusading  spirit  was 
waning,  and  that  the  Western  nations  were  begin- 
ning to  understand  that  their  real  concerns  lay  in 
their  own  growth,  and  in  establishing  relations  with 
their  neighbors,  instead  of  in  pursuing  will-o'-the- 
wisps  in  lands  five  hundred  leagues  away. 

Thrown  on  their  own  resources,  the  Venetians 
lost  no  time  in  fitting  out  another  fleet,  and  during 
the  next  two  years  (1262-4)  they  frequently  en- 
countered the  Genoese.  More  than  one  Venetian 
convoy  was  captured  by  the  enemy,  who  in  turn 
lost  several  small  engagements.  At  length  a  great 
battle  was  fought  off  the   coast  of    Sicily,   near 


86  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Trapani,  by  twenty-eight  Genoese  galleys  com- 
manded by  Lanfranco  Borborino,  and  by  twenty- 
six  Venetian  ships  under  Marco  Gradenigo  and 
Giacomo  Dandolo.  The  Genoese  were  hopelessly 
routed,  whether  because  their  admiral  was  "a 
chicken-hearted  fellow,"  as  a  disgusted  contempo- 
rary dubbed  him,  or  because  the  Venetians  displayed 
their' usual  superiority  in  handling  a  large  fleet  in 
action.  The  superstitious  did  not  forget  that  just 
fifty  years  before  the  Venetian  Trevisano  destroyed 
an  earlier  Genoese  fleet  in  these  very  waters. 

The  present  victory  reestablished  the  supremacy 
of  Venice  on  the  sea.  Genoa,  the  untamable,  was 
stunned,  exhausted.  Her  immense  efforts  during 
the  space  of  eight  years  have  never  been  sufficiently 
admired,  although  they  rank  among  the  prodigies 
of  naval  warfare ;  for  she  fought  four  pitched  bat- 
tles—  at  Tyre,  off  Acre,  at  Sette  Pozzi,  and  at 
Trapani  —  in  which  she  sent  one  hundred  and 
four  ships  into  action;  and  though  defeated,  she 
quickly  equipped  a  fresh  fleet  after  each  battle  save 
the  last.  In  comparison  with  this,  our  modern 
naval  armaments  look  small.  And  Genoa,  it  must 
be  remembered,  was  inferior  in  population  and  in 
wealth  to  Venice,  and  was  passing  through  a  period 
of  internal  discord  from  which  her  rival  was  free. 
In  spite  of  these  disadvantages,  she  maintained  a 
wonderful  contest. 

The  Venetian  triumph  brought  Emperor  Michael 
to  terms.  The  sly  Greek  would  naturally  have 
preferred  that  the  Italian  powers  from  which  he 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  87 

had  most  to  fear  should  fight  until  both  were 
ruined;  but  since  Venice  had  conquered,  he  was 
ready  to  fawn  on  her  and  to  snub  Genoa.  The 
overtures  he  offered  were  construed  as  so  plain  an 
indication  of  his  weakness  that  they  revived  among 
a  party  in  the  Venetian  Senate  the  old  scheme  of 
seizing  Constantinople,  in  order  to  make  it  surely 
Venetian,  if  not  the  capital  of  the  Kepublic.  A 
stronger  and  wiser  party  urged  in  opposition  that 
as  they  could  expect  no  further  support  from  Latin 
Europe,  the  enterprise  had  increased  in  risk ;  that 
the  burden  of  maintaining  their  government  at  Con- 
stantinople would  be  heavy ;  and  that  a  single  check 
or  defeat  would  bring  the  Genoese  upon  them  with 
renewed  vigor.  These  prudent  counselors  pre- 
vailed, and  after  haggling  over  the  details  of  the 
treaty,  a  five  years'  truce  was  concluded,  in  which 
Michael  conceded  to  the  Venetians  special  rights  in 
commerce,  law  courts,  and  residence,  in  return  for 
which  they  promised  not  to  molest  him  (1268). 

Venice  had  now  every  reason  to  exult  over  her 
position.  She  had  met  and  apparently  overcome 
all  the  difficulties  which  the  thirteenth  century  had 
marshaled  against  her.  On  the  mainland  she  had 
withstood  Frederick  and  Ezzelino;  they  perished, 
she  survived,  her  political  reputation  greatly  aug- 
mented, her  commercial  system  widely  extended. 
She  had  seen  the  Latin  Empire  collapse,  her  vast 
Oriental  trade  put  in  jeopardy,  a  hostile  Greek 
Emperor  conspiring  with  her  deadly  rivals,  the 
Genoese ;  yet  within  three  years  that  Emperor  was 


88  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

suing  for  her  friendship,  and  the  Genoese,  after 
their  fourth  terrific  defeat,  seemed  stricken  beyond 
hope  of  recovery  for  at  least  a  generation.  In 
Dalmatia,  Venice  again  was  mistress,  having  sup- 
pressed the  rebellion  instigated  by  the  King  of 
Hungary,  and  forced  him  by  treaty  to  renounce 
further  hostility.  In  Candia,  although  turbulence 
recurred  from  decade  to  decade,  her  rule  was  too 
strong  to  be  shaken  off  by  any  revolt.  We  have 
only  to  compare  the  condition  of  the  Western 
nations  at  this  time  to  perceive  how  far  Venice 
surpassed  any  of  them  in  wealth,  in  compact  power, 
and  in  civilization. 

In  England,  the  greatest  of  the  Plantagenets  did 
not  mount  the  throne  till  1272;  he  conquered 
Wales,  and  temporarily  subdued  the  Scotch ;  but 
half  of  his  kingdom  and  interests  still  lay  across 
the  English  Channel — an  evident  cause  of  weakness ; 
and  neither  his  English  nor  his  Norman  realm  had 
the  compactness  which  gives  strength.  In  France, 
where  the  long  reign  of  Louis  IX  was  closing,  the 
interminable  struggle  between  the  crown  and  the 
great  feudatories  had  begun ;  but  no  one  could  yet 
predict  whether  the  crown  would  eventually  win, 
or,  as  happened  in  Germany,  the  too  powerful 
vassals,  resisting  consolidation,  would  split  up  into 
many  particularist  small  states.  The  House  of 
Hapsburg  had  secured  control  of  the  Holy  Koman 
Empire,  and  was  destined  to  hold  it  with  occasional 
interruption  until  1806;  but  the  Hapsburgs'  real 
empire  was  to  be  over  Austria  and  the  countries 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  89 

south  and  east,  and  not  over  Germany.  In  Spain, 
the  grasp  of  the  Moors  was  weakening ;  but  along- 
side of  the  two  leading  Christian  kingdoms  of 
Aragon  and  Castile  there  were  several  smaller 
independent  states,  all  mutually  jealous,  and  united 
only  in  their  hatred  of  the  Moors.  Italy  itself  had 
no  unifying  influence ;  the  day  of  the  tyrants  had 
come ;  of  life  too  intensely  individualized ;  of  the 
sudden  expansion  of  one  state  after  another,  as 
some  vigorous  personality  compelled  it,  with  the 
inevitable  collapse  when  this  personality  was  with- 
drawn. The  Papacy  and  Venice  were  the  only 
Italian  organisms  through  which  a  consecutive  pur- 
pose ran  from  age  to  age. 

We  cannot  too  often  repeat  that  commerce,  next 
to  self-preservation,  was  the  chief  concern  of  Venice. 
"  Merchandize  flows  through  this  noble  city,"  says 
Da  Canale  in  1272,  "like  the  water  of  the  foun- 
tains." Everything  that  enterprise,  invention,  or 
foresight  could  supply  went  to  build  up  the  world- 
wide traffic  of  the  Eepublic.  From  the  earliest 
days  she  made  commercial  treaties  and  secured 
concessions.  Little  by  little  she  extended  her  trade 
from  the  Upper  Adriatic  and  its  tributary  rivers 
to  all  parts  of  the  Mediterranean.  Orseolo  the 
Great  propitiated  the  Arab  princes  of  Aleppo  and 
Damascus,  of  Cairo,  Palermo,  and  Kairwan^  and  he 
secured  from  the  Greek  Emperor  special  rates  for 
Venetian  ships  passing  the  Dardanelles.  A  century 
later,  Emperor  Alexis  decreed  that  Venetian  mer- 
chants should  buy  and  sell  untaxed  throughout  his 


90  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

realm.  Thus  before  the  Crusades,  Venice  enjoyed 
unique  privileges  in  the  Levant,  and  her  operations 
were  eagerly  watched  by  Western  Christendom. 
We  read  that  in  1017,  when  four  of  her  ships  laden 
with  spice  were  shipwrecked,  the  news  as  of  a 
calamity  spread  throughout  Germany.  Her  mer- 
chants took  out  woolen  cloths,  lumber,  grain,  arms, 
salt  meats,  and  slaves;  they  brought  back  the 
varied  products  of  Muscovy,  Asia,  and  Africa.  At 
Tana,  on  the  Sea  of  Azov,  they  bought  pitch  and 
hemp ;  at  Alexandria,  Beyrout,  and  Aleppo,  pepper, 
spices,  drugs,  rich  fabrics,  ivory,  and  precious 
stones. 

The  common  route  between  India  and  the  West- 
ern world  was  by  water  from  Calicut  to  Aden, 
where  Egyptian  merchants  bought  the  Asian  car- 
goes which  they  shipped  up  the  Red  Sea  to  Kosseir 
or  Aidab.  There  they  were  unloaded  and  carried 
on  camels  to  the  Nile;  then  down  the  Nile  to  Cairo 
and  Alexandria.  Later,  Jeddah  superseded  Aden, 
and  the  water  carriage  was  prolonged  to  Suez,  at  the 
head  of  the  Red  Sea,  which  a  short  portage  con- 
nected with  the  capital.  The  Venetian  merchant 
might  buy  in  the  spring  at  Cairo  goods  which 
had  been  packed  at  Canton  or  Pekin  the  previous 
autumn,  and  had  come  by  sea  to  Malacca,  where 
the  Indian  traders  took  them  and  passed  them  on 
to  Cambaye,  Malabar,  and  Calicut.  In  the  fifteenth 
century  another  route  was  opened  from  Calicut  to 
Ormuz,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Persian  Gulf  ;  thence 
through  the  Gulf  and  up  the  Tigris  to  Bagdad; 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  91 

thence  by  caravan  to  Damascus.  There  were  also 
overland  routes  connecting  Central  Asia  with  the 
Syrian  marts. 

Having  loaded  his  w'-ir^s,  the  Venetian  merchant 
sailed  home  to  Venice,  wl»,^ch  consumed  a  part  of 
them  ;  the  rest  went  acrov'a  the  Alps  into  Germany 
and  Austria,  or  they  were  transshipped  into  other 
galleys  which  distributed  thei  i.  along  the  western 
Mediterranean  or  took  them  to  Tmgland  and  Flan- 
ders. So  an  apothecary  at  Bruges  might  receive 
a  package  of  rhubarb  put  up  by  a  Vjhmaman  in  the 
Far  East,  and  complete  the  great  circuit  of  trade. 

The  state  did  not  limit  private  enterprise,  but 
the  conditions  were  such  that  it  had  to  take  care 
that  nothing  should  interrupt  the  circulation  of  traf- 
fic, which  was  its  life-blood.  It  sent  convoys  to 
protect  the  merchantmen  from  pirates.  It  built 
all  the  ships  at  its  Arsenal,  and  prescribed  strict 
dimensions  for  each  sort.  By  thus  standardizing 
the  measurements  it  secured  a  useful  uniformity. 
Merchant  galleys  could  be  quickly  converted  into 
war  galleys ;  a  merchant  fleet  and  its  convoys 
sailed  at  the  same  speed ;  their  officers  and  crews 
could  be  interchanged;  and  in  case  of  damage, 
broken  rigging  or  equipment  could  be  replaced  at 
the  nearest  port  Avhere  there  was  a  Venetian  depot ; 
for  these  depots  kept  in  stock  sections  and  parts  of 
ships  of  each  model.  No  other  nation  has  devised 
so  perfect  a  combination  of  its  mercantile  marine 
and  its  navy.  The  Venetian  government  auctioned 
the  galleys,  fully  equipped  and  provisioned,  to  the 


92  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  cuap. 

highest  bidder,  who  pledged  himself  to  return  them 
in  good  condition,  not  to  engage  in  any  unlawful 
business,  or  to  sell  then  to  a  foreigner.  By  this 
arrangement  the  govern  i.vnt  promoted  commerce 
without  running  the  ris.i  of  losing  by  an  unprof- 
itable venture.  It  furl,  er  fostered  its  merchants 
by  maintaining  consr.ls  in  the  Levant,  and  these 
commercial  agents  r  aarrled  jealously  their  country- 
men's interests  an'x  reported  every  new  opening  for 
trade.  I>y  the  'oiddle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  Venetian  commerce  reached  its  prime,  there 
were  afloat  thirty-three  hundred  ships,  large  and 
small,  with  thirty  thousand  men  employed  upon 
them,  and  sixteen  thousand  men  at  work  in  the 
Arsenal. 

Individual  vessels  came  and  went  all  the  time ; 
but  gradually  the  great  merchant  fleets  followed  a 
regular  schedule,  and  had  each  its  special  season. 
There  were  six  of  these  fleets,  numbering  from 
three  to  six  galleys  each.  One  went  to  Romania ; 
another  to  the  Crimea ;  a  third  to  Armenia ;  a 
fourth  to  Cyprus  and  Egypt;  a  fifth  to  the  Bar- 
bary  States;  and  the  last  to  Spain,  Portugal, 
France,  England,  and  Flanders.  The  Flanders 
galleys,  after  unloading  at  Bruges,  stopped  at  one 
of  the  English  ports,  —  London,  Plymouth,  South- 
ampton, Dartmouth,  Rye,  or  Lynn,  —  where  they 
sold  alum,  glass,  silk,  drapery,  sugar,  wines,  con- 
fectionery, spices,  and  wood,  and  bought  wool,  iron, 
hides,  and  broadcloth.  With  Egypt  there  was  a 
lively  trade  requiring  from  eight  to  twelve  galleys 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  93 

a  jeav.  A  cargo  of  spice  was  valued  at  35,000 
ducats,  and  we  hear  of  a  monster  galleass  which 
brought  200,000  ducats'  worth  on  a  single  voyage. 
The  pepper  trade  of  Alexandria  equaled  in  rela- 
tive importance  that  of  England  in  tea  and  cotton 
to-day.  Reckoning  at  about  $2.25,  or  nine  shillings 
and  four  pence,  the  bullion  value  of  the  gold  ducat, 
and  its  purchasing  power  at  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
times  the  same  amount  now,  we  get  a  hint  of  the 
wealth  which  Venice  owed  to  her  foreign  trade. 

Commerce  by  land  supplemented  commerce  by 
water;  and  from  the  earliest  days  the  energetic 
Venetians  took  care  to  secure  a  free  passage  for 
distributing  their  goods  throughout  Northern  Italy 
and  across  the  Alps.  And  native  industries,  pushed 
with  characteristic  vigor,  made  of  Venice  a  centre 
of  production.  To  salt  and  salt  fish,  her  first 
staples,  she  added  bell  casting,  glass-working,  silk- 
weaving,  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  of  porcelain, 
a  woolen  trade  which  at  its  height  is  said  to  have 
employed  thirty  thousand  hands,  fine  leather  work, 
lace,  jewelry,  and  shipbuilding.  Forty  thousand 
packhorses  came  down  from  the  north  to  Istria 
every  year,  to  take  back  Venetian  salt  to  the 
Austrian  Empire. 

Her  industries  were  as  perfectly  organized  as  her 
commerce.  The  guild  system,  adopted  as  early  as 
the  eleventh  century,  flourished  for  five  hundred 
years.  Each  guild,  in  imitation  of  the  Eepublic, 
had  its  doge  and  great  council ;  it  watched  over 
the  training  of  apprentices ;  it  insisted  on  first-rate 


94  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

work ;  it  took  care  of  the  sick  and  aged,  and  pro- 
tected widows  and  orphans.  The  Venetian  guilds, 
unlike  those  of  Florence  and  of  the  other  Italian 
cities,  never  became  politici^l  hotbeds.  Since  they 
grew  up  side  by  side,  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
oligarchy,  we  may  infer  that  they  felt  no  class 
grievance  against  the  patricians,  but  recognized, 
rather,  how  much  the  oligarchic  form  of  govern- 
ment benefited  their  business.  For  they  enjoyed 
stability,  and  light,  even  taxation ;  they  feared  no 
foreign  invader;  they  suffered  from  no  home 
extortion.  Their  fellows  elsewhere,  on  the  con- 
trary, groaned  either  from  political  convulsions  or 
from  the  whims  and  rapacity  of  insatiate  despots. 
And,  indeed,  the  oligarchy  proved  itself  in  this,  as 
in  other  respects,  the  most  discreet  of  privileged 
classes.  It  might  shut  out  the  guilds  from  politi- 
cal activity,  but  it  never  for  a  moment  disguised 
the  fact  that  its  own  vital  interests  and  those  of 
the  guildsmen,  the  small  merchants,  and  the  sea- 
men were  solidaire.  The  state  granted  monopolies, 
passed  laws  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  guilds, 
and  punished  the  disclosure  of  the  secret  methods 
of  manufacture.  Moreover,  the  patricians  them- 
selves were  merchants,  proud  to  acknowledge  the 
source  of  their  wealth  and  power,  and  bound  by 
the  ties  of  business  to  the  middle  and  lower  classes. 
Thus  did  her  commerce,  her  colonies,  and  her 
home  industries  contribute  to  the  upbuilding  of  the 
Venetian  state.  She  left  nothing  to  chance.  She 
planned  carefully  and  carried  out  stanchly.     There 


IV  IMPERIAL  GROWTH  95 

was  perfect  coordination  among  all  parts  of  her 
system.  She  encouraged  individual  enterprise,  but 
in  concerns  too  great  for  a  private  citizen  to  grap- 
ple with,  she  lent  her  guiding  hand.  As  she  grew 
opulent  herself,  she  extended  civilization  through- 
out the  West.  In  an  epoch  when  religious,  dynas- 
tic, and  racial  antipathies  separated  town  from  town 
and  people  from  people,  and  made  murder  the  chief 
occupation  in  life,  she  showed  how  commerce  could 
promote  international  friendship  and  welfare,  and 
plant  the  seeds  of  toleration. 


CHAPTER  V 

FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION,   1264-1310 

The  political  constitution  of  a  state  is  determined 
not  only  by  the  ideals  its  people  hold  of  justice  and 
civic  administration,  but  also  by  conflict  with  for- 
eign rivals.  The  unique  position  of  Venice  made 
her,  from  the  beginning,  as  we  have  seen,  an  excep- 
tion to  the  general  rule  by  which  the  races  of 
Western  Europe  slowly  organized  after  the  fall  of 
Rome.  {The  Teutonic  invasion  brought  feudalism  ; 
Venice  persisted  in  being  unfeudal.  The  new 
states  became  monarchical;  Venice  suffered  no 
monarch.  Latin  Christendom  acknowledged  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Pontiff;  Venice,  while 
Roman  Catholic  in  religion,  remained  ecclesiasti- 
cally independent.  Western  Christendom  accepted 
the  Holy  Roman  Emperor  as  its  overlord;  Venice 
adroitly  avoided  actual  vassalage  either  to  him  or 
to  the  Eastern  Emperor.  The  rest  of  the  world 
was  chiefly  engaged  in  war  on  land ;  Venice  devoted 
her  energy  to  commerce  by  sea.  And  so  we  might 
go  on  multiplying  contrasts,  all  of  which  show  that 
Venice,  thanks  to  her  isolation,  succeeded  in  going 
her  own  way  during  an  entire  epochi  while  her 
96  "^-  A 


CHAP.  V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  97 

neighbors  either  did  not  wish  or  had  not  the  power 
to  thwart  her. 

The  political  organism  which  she  had  fashioned 
was  admirably  adapted  to  her  needs  in  such  an 
epoch.  Amid  a  world  of  flux,  it  had  the  primal 
virtue  of  stability;  the  rock  stands  after  a  thou- 
sand angry  tides  have  foamed  round  it  and  ebbed 
away.  But  there  is  also  the  stability  of  elasticity, 
which  bends  without  breaking  and  adjusts  itself  to 
new  conditions  without  surrendering  its  essential 
nature.  With  the  thirteenth  century  a  change  was 
spreading  over  European  civilization ;  it  might  be 
that  the  elastic  and  not  the  rigid  political  organism 
would  be  master  now.  Just  at  the  dawn  of  this 
new  era,  Venice  adopted  the  political  system  which, 
as  it  proved,  she  was  to  keep  almost  unaltered, dur- 
ing the  last  five  centuries  of  her  existence. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  early  days  she 
resisted  the  tendency  toward  an  hereditary  mon- 
archy. [Having  succeeded  in  making  her  doges 
elective,  she  took  steps  to  prevent  them  from  be- 
ing despotic.  In  1032  two  ducal  councilors  were 
appointed  to  guard  against  every  attempt  of  a 
doge  to  exercise  undue  power.  The  fiction  of  popu- 
lar government  was  still  assumed;  the  doge  was 
supposed  to  owe  his  authority,  if  not  actually  his 
election,  to  popular  approval,  and  vital  public  ques- 
tions were  always  submitted  to  the  arrengo.  But 
the  members  of  the  great  families  really  controlled 
the  government  long  before  they  openly  showed 
their  power^  As  late  as  1071  the  people  unques- 


98  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

tioiiably  elected  their  doge,  Domenico  Selvo,  and 
he,  in  sign  of  humility,  took  off  his  stockings  and 
went  barefoot  from  Olivolo  to  St.  Mark's. 

[J)uring  the  next  century  the  political  situation 
became  clearly  defined.  The  aristocracy  evidently 
tightened  its  grip;  the  people  lacked  a  channel 
through  which  they  could  continuously  influence  the 
government;  the  doge,  himself  an  aristocrat,  was 
more  jealously  watched  by  his  own  class  than  by  the 
peoplel  yet  he  did  not,  like  many  kings  in  other 
states,  form  with  the  people  a  coalition  to  break  the 
power  of  the  aristocracy."  In  1171,  after  the  disas- 
trous expedition  of  VitalelMichiel,  the  ducal  pre- 
rogatives were  further  curtailed,  and  a  permanent 
assembly,  the  forerunner  of  the  Great  Council,  was 
created.  The  doge's  councilors  were  now  six  instead 
of  two,  with  strict  charge  to  prevent  him  from  carry- 
ing on  private  negotiations  with  foreign  states,  or 
to  strengthen  his  family  at  homej  The  number  of 
the  pregadi,  or  eminent  citizens  invited  by  the  doge 
to  advise  him,  was  likewise  increased.     Above  all, 

fthe  organization  of  the  Great  Council,  with  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty  members,  gave  the  Republic  a  broad- 
based  organ  of  legislation,  and  guarded  it  alike  from 

^  ducal  ambition  and  popular  hysterics.  The  electors 
of  the  first  council  were  themselves  chosen  by  popu- 
lar vote  to  represent  each  section  of  the  city,  but 
as  they  chose  their  own  successors,  this  assembly 
became  the  stronghold  of  the  aristocracy.! 

The  year  1171,  therefore,  marks  the  definite  emer- 
gence of  the  oligarchy  as  the  governing  class.    That 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  99 

such  a  revolution  could  come  about  without  serious 
tumult  shows  that  the  oligarchs  possessed  the  pe- 
culiar Venetian  virtue  of  patience,  which  kept  them 
from  clutching  prematurely  at  the  prize  which  was 
sure  to  fall  into  their  grasp,  if  they  would  but  wait. 
[The  wise  among  them  foresaw  the  danger  of  ex- 
cTusiveness.  "  Leave  open  a  career  of  honor  and  u"* 
office  to  the  more  powerful  citizens,"  said  Sebastian 
Ziani,  the  sagacious  doge  who  entertained  Pope 
Alexander  III  and  Frederick  Barbarossa  as  the 
guests  of  Venice.  "  Avoid  war,  and  take  care  that 
the  people  never  suffer  famine,"  was  another  of  his 
maxims.  A  career  for  the  upper  classes,  comfort 
and  peace  for  the  lower,  were  the  surest  guarantees 
of  a  lasting  government^j 

Ziani  had  been  chosen  by  eleven  electors,  des- 
ignated by  the  Great  Council.  The  number  was 
raised  to  forty,  and  this  again  in  1249  to  forty-one, 
after  there  had  been  a  tie  vote  in  1229.  The  oli- 
garchy now  plainly  controlled  the  electoral  machine, 
although  the  custom  of  announcing  the  name  of  the 
newly  elected  doge  to  the  populace  with  the  addi- 
tional "  An  it  please  you  "  was  not  yet  abandoned. 
In  spite  of  so  many  safeguards,  the  Great  Council 
still  feared  lest  some  prepotent  duke  might  break 
through  them  all.  Genius  and  ambition  laugh  at 
precedents.  Did  not  Enrico  Dandolo  so  move  the 
Venetians  in  that  famous  meeting  in  St.  Mark's 
that  they  bade  him  take  the  Cross  himself,  and 
consented,  contrary  to  the  law,  that  during  his  ab- 
sence his  son  Renier  should   serve  as  vice-doge  ? 


100  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

If  such  an  exception  occurred  once,  it  might  occur 
again,  when  not  a  great  patriot  but  a  self-seeker 
were  in  office.  At  Dandolo's  election  (1192)  the 
Great  Council  exacted  the  signing  of  a  ducal  pro- 
mission  {promissione  ducale)  or  coronation  oath,  set- 
ting forth  a  multitude  of  stipulations  which  the 
Doge  agreed  to  observe.  These  pledges  were  from 
time  to  time  loaded  with  fresh  prescriptions,  until 
they  reached  the  point  where  every  possible  con- 
tingency seemed  to  be  provided  for,  and  the  luck- 
less Doge  might  dread  impeachment  if  he  failed  to 
sneeze  according  to  rule.  To  print  the  promission 
of  Jacopo  Tiepolo  (1229)  requires  nine  octavo 
pages,  and  the  list  lengthened  as  experience  sug- 
gested new  items.  A  special  committee  of  five 
"Correctors"  was  appointed  to  draw  up  this  in- 
strument, and,  as  a  final  precaution,  when  a  doge 
died  another  committee  of  three  "Inquisitors  on 
the  Defunct  Doge  "  investigated  his  official  conduct 
and  his.  estate,  with  powers,  in  case  they  discovered 
illegal  acts  or  improper  gains,  to  attaint  his  heirs. 
Neither  in  life  nor  in  death  would  the  Great  Council 
relax  their  vigilance  over  their  chief  servant. 

This  extraordinary  system  really  worked;  and 
although,  if  minutely  carried  out,  it  would  have 
reduced  the  Doge  to  a  puppet,  in  practice  it  left 
him,  within  certain  limits,  considerable  freedom. 
For  we  must  always  distinguish  between  the  ab- 
stract ruler,  as  defined  by  a  constitution,  and  the 
actual  ruler,  whose  influence  depends  largely  on 
his  social  position  or  his  personality.     The  Presi- 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITt/TlO^^    >      ,  i      'IQl 

dent  of  the  United  States  has  by  law  certain  pre- 
rogatives, hedged  round  by  many  checks ;  the 
personality  of  the  President  determines  whether 
he  rank  as  a  passive  machine  or  as  an  active  direct- 
ing force;  under  legal  forms  he  may,  in  an  emer- 
gency, wield  power  as  absolute  as  the  Czar's.  And 
so,  while  it  is  true  that  the  doges  were  theoretically 
mere  figureheads  adorned  with  matchless  pomp, 
there  was,  in  fact,  still  scope  for  the  vigorous  among 
them  to  stamp  their  individuality  on  public  affairs. 

At  the  election  of  Lorenzo  Tiepolo  in  1268  was 
employed  for  the  first  time  the  intricate  system  by 
which  the  patricians  hoped  to  winnow  out  their 
desired  candidate.  The  Great  Council  chose  by  lot 
thirty  members,  who  chose  nine ;  these  nine  chose 
forty,  Avho  chose  twelve ;  these  twelve  chose  twenty- 
five,  who  chose  nine;  these  nine  chose  forty-five, 
who  chose  eleven;  these  eleven  chose  forty -one, 
who  finally  elected  the  Doge,  who  must  have  at 
least  a  minimum  of  twenty-five  votes.  The  original 
intention  may  have  been  to  throw  the  election,  by  a 
succession  of  large  and  small  groups,  into  the  hands 
of  large  numbers  of  the  Great  Councilors;  but  in 
fact,  it  will  be  observed,  all  the  various  groups 
may  have  been  drawn  from  forty-five,  and  the 
sam_e  person  may  have  voted  with  each  group.  Here 
again  a  seemingly  rigid  mechanism  allowed  some 
play  to  human  plasticity.  But  the  adoption  of  this 
method  deprived  the  people  of  the  last  shred  of  in- 
fluence in  choosing  the  Doge. 

Having  attained  their  object  of  controlling  the 


JiS&'Ijf      jA/fiHOpT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

election  and  the  conduct  of  the  head  of  the  state, 
the  patricians  went  on  to  complete  their  oligarchy 
by  reforming  the  Great  Council,  which  was  at  once 
the  source  of  political  authority  and  of  practical  ad- 
ministration. After  its  creation  in  1171,  the  Great 
Council  had  elected  its  own  members,  and  while  all 
classes  of  citizens  were  equally  eligible  to  it,  the 
patricians,  predominant  from  the  first,  naturally 
tended  to  exclude  representatives  of  the  other 
classes.  In  this  they  succeeded,  for  in  1293  the 
Contarini  family  had  eighteen,  the  Morosini  eleven, 
and  the  Foscari  ten  members  in  the  council.^ 

The  total  membership,  originally  iiour  hundred 
and  eighty,  had  dropped  to  two  hundred  and  ten  in 
1296,  and  the  provision  that  it  should  be  replen- 
ished every  year  by  an  election  at  Michaelmas 
had  been  so  far  disregarded  that  partial  elections 
were  held  at  irregular  dates.  Whether  these 
lapses  came  about  unintentionally,  or  were  moves 

1  To  illustrate  the  persistence  of  the  old  families,  we  find 
that  in  1486  there  were  twenty-four  of  them  that  dated  from 
early  times,  some  indeed  from  the  preducal  days.  Romanin 
(IV,  420)  gives  the  list  as  follows :  — 

Badoer,  Basegio,  Barozzo,  Bragadin,  Bembo,  Contarini, 
Corner,  Dandolo,  Dolfiu,  Falier,  Gradenigo,  Memmo,  Michiel, 
Morosini,  Polani,  Querini,  Salomon,  Sanudo,  Soranzo,  Tiepolo, 
Zane,  Zen,  Zorzi,  and  Zustinian.  Of  these  all  but  five  (Barozzi, 
Basegio,  Querini,  Salomon,  and  Zane)  had  had  at  least  one 
doge.  In  1450  sixteen  new  houses  conspired  to  keep  any  of  the 
old  houses  from  being  doge :  Barbarigo,  Dona,  Foscari,  Grimani, 
Gritti,  Lando,  Loredan,  Malipiero,  Marcello,  Mocenigo,  Moro, 
Priuli,  Trevisan,  Tron,  Vendramin,  and  Venier.  This  combina- 
tion worked  successfully  till  1620,  when  Marcantonio  Memmo 
was  unexpectedly  elected. 


V  FIXING   THE  CONSTITUTION  103 

in  the  deep-planned  but  unavowed  game  of  the  pa- 
tricians, can  hardly  be  decided  now.  No  one  can 
doubt  that  Venice,  since  about  the  year  1000,  had 
been  tending  toward  a  strong  oligarchy.  The 
great  families  themselves  knew  whither  the  cur- 
rent was  running;  so,  presumably,  did  all  the 
citizens ;  but  the  former  seemed  not  to  coerce,  and 
the  latter  seemed  scarcely  to  resist ;  so  that,  as 
in  the  case  of  reducing  the  Doge's  power,  the  final 
public  recognition  of  the  oligarchy  caused  little 
trouble. 

In  1286  the  patrician  party  brought  forward  a 
resolution  that  thenceforward  no  one  should  be 
eligible  to  the  Great  Council  whose  father  or  pa- 
ternal ancestor  had  not  sat  in  that  body.  The  mo- 
tion was  lost  by  a  majority  of  thirty -four  out  of 
only  one  hundred  and  thirty  votes,  the  Doge  him- 
self, Giovanni  Dandolo,  having  thrown  his  influence 
against  it.  Ten  years  later,  however,  the  measure 
was  pushed  anew.  In  the  interval  Pietro  Grade- 
nigo,  an  aggressive  aristocrat,  had  succeeded  Dan- 
dolo. The  democrats  lacked  forcible  leaders,  and 
the  distractions  of  a  naval  war  with  Genoa  produced 
a  most  unfavorable  condition  for  the  calm  discus- 
sion of  internal  policy.  The  Great  Council  had 
only  two  hundred  and  ten  members,  and  appar- 
ently there  was  intentional  delay  in  making  up 
the  regular  number.  Gradenigo's  enemies  naturally 
suspected  that  he  chose  this  moment  and  this  par- 
ticular session  to  carry  through  his  project.  In  any 
case,  on  February  28,  1297,  a  law  was  passed  defin- 


104  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap 

ing  the  qualifications  for  membership  in  the  Great 
Council.     The  reform  provided  that — 

1.  The  Council  of  Forty  should  immediately  vote 
on  the  names  of  all  persons  who  had  been  members 
of  the  Great  Council  during  the  past  four  years, 
and  such  candidates  as  received  not  less  than 
twelve  votes  should  be  members  of  the  new  council. 

2.  On  return  from  absence  abroad  a  member  must 
be  voted  on  afresh. 

3.  Three  electors  should  be  appointed  to  nomi- 
nate, with  the  approval  of  the  Doge  and  his  privy 
councilors,  persons  who  had  not  been  members  of 
the  Great  Council.  These  electors  should  hold 
office  a  year,  and  their  successors  should  be  chosen 
annually  by  ballot. 

4.  This  system  could  be  revoked  only  by  a  vote 
of  five  out  of  six  ducal  councilors,  of  twenty-five 
out  of  the  Council  of  Forty,  and  of  two  thirds  of  the 
Great  Council. 

Such,  in  substance,  was  the  Serrata  del  Maggior 
Consiglio,  the  "  Closing  of  the  Great  Council,'* 
which  fixed  irrevocably,  as  the  future  proved,  the 
government  of  Venice.  Through  it  the  oligarchy 
became  the  acknowledged  master  of  the  Eepublic. 
The  hereditary  principle,  so  stubbornly  contested 
by  the  doges,  henceforth  determined  membership 
in  the  Great  Council,  and  as  the  members  of  the 
smaller  executive  and  judicial  councils  were  almost 
invariably  chosen  from  the  larger  body,  the  entire 
power  of  the  Venetian  state  lay  in  the  hands  of  a 
small  privileged  class.     Yet  small  though  this  class 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  105 

was  in  number,  it  was  relatively  larger,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  whole  population,  than  the  nobility 
which  ruled  France  under  the  Old  Regime,  or  even 
than  the  aristocracy  which  dominated  England 
down  to  1832.  And  although  the  main  entrance 
to  the  patriciate  was  locked  forever,  a  side  door 
was  left  open  through  which  a  man  of  exceptional 
ability,  otherwise  ineligible,  might  be  let  in.  This 
seldom  occurred,  but  the  fact  that  extraordinary 
merit  might  lift  its  possessor  into  the  charmed 
circle,  provided  a  safety  \^alve  against  rankling 
injustice.  We  should  note  also  the  peculiarly 
Venetian  quality  of  the  provision  which  required 
that  even  those  whose  descent  entitled  them  to 
stand  as  candidates  must  be  elected :  in  other 
words,  to  be  a  patrician  did  not  suffice,  for  the 
Great  Council  undertook  to  choose  in  each  genera- 
tion the  most  desirable  of  the  patrician  class.  In 
this  way  it  hoped  to  escape  the  evil,  which  has  at- 
tended every  other  hereditary  assembly  of  nobles, 
of  seeing  its  benches  crowded  with  degenerate  sons 
of  old  houses,  who  have  no  training,  and  often  not 
enough  intelligence  to  be  trained,  in  public  affairs. 
Here  again  the  Venetians,  after  making  a  rigid 
law,  wisely  allowed,  as  was  their  wont,  for  healthy 
variation. 

Nevertheless,  the  Closing  of  the  Great  Council 
swept  away  the  pretense  that  Venice  was  a  de- 
mocracy. It  divided  the  citizens  into  three  classes  : 
those  who  had  never  been,  and  whose  ancestors  had 
never  been,  in  the  Great  Council  —  in  numbers  by 


106  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

far  the  largest  class,  commonly  called  the  "new- 
men  " ;  those  who  were  now  members ;  and  lastly, 
those  who  could  point  to  either  a  father  or  an 
ancestor  in  the  Great  Council.  The  immediate 
effect  of  the  reform  was  to  swell  the  number  of 
members,  because  everybody  entitled  to  nomination 
asked  to  be  balloted  on.  In  1297  only  210  mem- 
bers had  passed  the  new  law ;  in  1311  the  roll  rose 
to  1017 ;  in  1340  to  1212 ;  in  1437  to  1300;  in  1490 
to  1570 ;  and  in  1510  to  1671. 

To  keep  membership  pure,  the  Golden  Book  was 
established  in  1315  to  record  the  marriages  of  all 
patricians  eligible  to  the  Great  Council,  and  the 
births  of  their  children.  Bastards  and  sons  born 
out  of  wedlock,  but  subsequently  legitimized,  were 
excluded  from  the  succession.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  the  lists  of  the  eligible  comprised  the  names 
of  all  who  could  trace  their  descent  to  a  Grand 
Councilor  at  any  time  since  1172,  and  of  the  Pre- 
gadi,  the  Forty,  the  haili,  counts,  castellans,  pretors, 
councilors,  rectors,  consuls,  visdomini,  and  many 
other  officials  who  had  served  the  Republic  at 
home  or  in  the  colonies. 

While  it  has  been  customary  to  denounce  the 
Serrata  as  a  sudden  and  ruthless  suppression  of 
popular  government,  the  facts  hardly  warrant  such 
denunciation.  The  movement  which  culminated  in 
1297  had  been  in  progress  for  two  centuries;  the 
supremacy  of  the  upper  class  had  long  existed  as  a 
fact,  and  ten  years  had  elapsed  since  the  reform  was 
previously  debated  in  the  Great  Council  before  it 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  107 

received  this  constitutional  sanction.  The  rights 
from  which  the  people  were  now  definitely  shut 
out,  they  had  not  enjoyed  in  practice  for  many  gener- 
ations. In  forty  years  you  may  never  have  wished  to 
go  to  Guinea;  but  let  fate  paralyze  you  so  that  you 
can  never  afterward  go  there  if  you  would,  and 
you  will  feel  that  you  have  been  deprived  of  a  life- 
long right.  Had  the  Venetian  people  attempted  at 
any  time  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  ride  the  Re- 
public, they  would  have  found  the  aristocracy  already 
in  the  saddle.  The  imperial  expansion  of  Venice 
after  the  Fourth  Crusade  confirmed  the  ascendency 
of  the  great  families.  The  wider  commerce  enor- 
mously enriched  them.  The  many  new  offices 
required  for  governing  the  colonies  gave  an  oppor- 
tunity to  hundreds  of  ambitious  nobles,  and,  indeed, 
to  any  enterprising  citizen,  who  might  hope  to  win 
a  higher  position  at  home  through  great  achieve- 
ments abroad.  In  any  state,  the  government  in- 
evitably comes  into  the  hands  of  the  dominant 
class;  and  this  is  true  whatever  the  government 
may  be  called:  there  are  to-day  several  thriving 
despotisms,  which  wear  the  thinnest  democratic 
disguise. 

Why  did  the  political  life  of  Venice  grow  natu- 
rally into  an  oligarchy  ?  The  question  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  in  constitutional  history,  and 
so  far  as  I  know  nobody  has  fully  answered  it. 
Mr.  Hazlitt's  answer  is  worth  pondering :  "  In  a 
state  like  Venice,"  he  says,  "  where  navigation  sup- 
plied, in  a  large  measure,  the  place  of  agriculture. 


108  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OP  VENICE  chap. 

and  where  the  attention  of  the  multitude  was 
regularly  directed  by  their  callings  as  pilots,  mari- 
ners, and  fishermen,  from  the  management  and 
progress  of  public  affairs,  it  was  not  difficult  for  an 
oligarchy,  so  long  as  it  was  true  to  itself,  to  retain 
the  governing  prerogative  and  the  succession  to  the 
ducal  office  in  its  own  hands  ;  and  it  is  accordingly 
found  that  the  very  tribunitial  families  which  ruled 
the  Republic  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries 
still  preserved  in  the  eleventh  their  political  ascen- 
dency." This  sounds  reasonable,  until  we  reflect 
that  neither  at  Pisa  nor  at  Genoa,  where  navigation 
formed,  as  at  Venice,  the  chief  business,  did  an  oli- 
garchy establish  itself.  Genoa  especially,  which 
came  nearest  to-  Tenice  in  maritime  power  and  com- 
mercial interests,  was  notoriously  the  most  revolu- 
tionary state  in  Europe,  and  the  revolutions  which 
tormented  her  resulted  more  than  once  in  a  victory 
for  the  very  plebeians.  Nor,  if  we  examine  the 
^  political  evolution  of  the  northern  commercial 
N  cities  —  of  Antwerp,  Bruges,  and  the  Hanse  towns, 
—  shall  we  discover  any  general  drift  toward 
oligarchy.  Evidently,  Mr.  Hazlitt  has  not  found 
the  key. 

The  cause  which  really  determined  the  politics  of 
Venice  was  not  navigation  instead  of  agriculture, 
but  geographical  isolation.  As  we  have  so  often 
remarked,  the  Republic  of  the  Lagoons  grew  up  in 
almost  complete  independence  of  the  influences 
which  conditioned  the  growth  of  every  other  Eu- 
ropean state.     The  Venetians  had  known  neither 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  109 

Imperial  count  nor  Papal  vicar.  The  great  tide  of 
world  politics  had  never  ebbed  and  flowed  in  their 
streets.  Truculent  territorial  lords  had  never  con- 
tested with  the  populace  for  mastery.  There  had 
been  great  captains,  but  no  military  dictators.  The 
bourgeoisie,  that  middle  class  out  of  which  in  other 
countries  representative  government  was  to  spring, 
exerted  less  influence  at  Venice  than  elsewhere,  be- 
cause up  to  the  Closing  of  the  Great  Council,  and 
long  afterward,  the  patricians  were  themselves  the 
merchants.  Foreign  invasion,  which  elsewhere  de- 
stroyed small  states,  was  only  a  remote  danger  at 
Venice  —  a  danger  remote  but  wholesome,  because 
it  invariably  put  an  end  to  internal  feuds. 

Isolation,  not  navigation,  was,  '•^erefore,  the  cru- 
cial fact,  thanks  to  which  the  Venetian  constitution 
shaped  itself  with  almost  unexampled  deliberate- 
ness,  and  expressed  the  inmost  character  of  the 
people.  The  aristocracy  could  never  have  got  con- 
trol and  kept  it,  unless  the  other  classes  had  come 
through  long  experience  to  regard  this  as  on  the 
whole  fitting.  They  had  learned  that  government 
by  mass  meeting,  which  is  always  uncertain,  becomes 
impossible  when  population  grows.  Never  having 
practiced  representative  government,  in  the  modern 
sense  of  electing  a  small  body  of  deputies  to  legis- 
late for  all,  the  rise  of  the  oligarchy  did  not,  as  the 
laments  of  some  historians  might  suggest,  deprive 
the  masses  of  political  functions  which  they  were  in 
the  habit  of  exercising.  No  flourishing  democracy 
was  destroyed.    The  class  which  had,  as  everybody 


110  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

knew,  really  mastered  the  Republic  now  simply 
took  the  name  of  master. 

The  comparatively  slight  opposition  which  the  rise 
of  the  oligarchy  met  with  proves  that  democratic 
ideals,  as  we  understand  them,  did  not  penetrate 
the  masses.  We  infer  also  that,  in  spite  of  class 
distinctions  and  the  barriers  everywhere  set  up  be- 
tween the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  Venetians  were  one 
people  to  a  degree  which  has  rarely  been  matched. 
In  the  earliest  days  they  realized,  like  a  ship- 
wrecked crew  on  a  life-raft,  that  they  must  sink  or 
swim  together ;  and  now,  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
although  the  aristocracy  was  visibly  set  apart  from 
the  rest  of  the  people,  high  and  low  recognized  that, 
as  they  had  the  same  interests,  union  was  vital  to 
all.  The  great  majority  who  were  never  to  be  en- 
rolled in  the  Golden  Book  could  go  on  claiming 
liberty  as  their  birthright ;  just  as  the  English  yeo- 
man, who  had  until  recently  no  voice  in  Parliament 
or  even  in  the  local  affairs  of  his  village,  regarded 
himself  as  the  inheritor  of  the  ancient  English  liber- 
ties. In  one  case  and  in  the  other  the  assumption 
was  well  founded ;  for  the  Venetian  like  the  Eng- 
lishman did  actually  enjoy  the  essentials  of  free- 
dom, which  are  not  always  linked  with  political 
rights. 

The  surest  proof  of  the  fundamental  harmony  of 
classes  in  Venice  lies  in  the  equality  of  all  citizens 
in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  A  century  before  the  Serrata, 
Doge  Enrico  Dandolo  began  to  codify  the  laws 
(1195).     Under  Jacopo  Tiepolo,  about  1232,  com- 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  111 

plete  civil,  criminal,  and  nautical  statutes  were 
drawn  up,  which  bear  witness  to  the  advanced  civili- 
zation of  the  community  whose  morals  they  reflect. 
There  was,  indeed,  no  trial  by  jury ;  but  a  def end- 
"ant  had  every  means  accorded  him  to  prove  his 
innocence  in  the  court  which  had  jurisdiction  over 
his  case ;  the  state  provided  counsel  for  him  if  he 
were  poor ;  if  he  were  declared  guilty,  the  sentence 
imposed  must  be  concurred  in  by  independent  mag- 
istrates before  it  could  be  carried  out ;  and  even  after 
a  criminal  was  imprisoned,  two  councilors  visited 
his  cell  once  a  month  to  hear  his  grievances  and  re- 
port on  them  to  the  Doge.  That  justice  was  done 
without  respect  to  persons  seems  to  be  beyond 
contradiction,  no  matter  how  much  deduction  we 
make  for  the  usual  discrepancy  between  the  written 
law  and  its  actual  applicatioii ;  [and  it  was  this  bond 
of  equality,  more  durable  than  any  political  com- 
pact, which,  with  her  geographical  isolation,  made 
Venice  the  most  stable  of  all  governments. 

jSTevertheless,  the  Closing  of  the  Great  Council 
was  not  accomplished  without  some  protest.  The 
story  goes  that  in  1300  Marin  Bocconio,  a  rich  citi- 
zen not  entitled  to  nomination  to  the  Council,  gath- 
ered a  few  score  sympathizers  and  marched  to  the 
Palace,  where  they  knocked  boldly  on  the  door  and 
demanded  to  be  admitted  to  take  part  in  their 
country's  affairs.  They  were  admitted  one  by  one, 
according  to  an  old  tale,  and  immediately  executed, 
the  dwindling  remnant  of  waiters  outside  not  sus- 
pecting what  had  befallen  their  companions.     A 


112  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

more  likely  account  states  that  the  Doge  got  wind 
of  the  plot  and  had  the  troop  of  protestants  arrested 
and  tried  before  they  came  to  violence ;  their  ring- 
leaders were  hanged,  head  downwards,  between  the 
columns  in  the  Piazzetta.  What  are  we  to  surmise 
from  such  swift  and  terrible  punishment?  Had 
Bocconio  behind  him  a  vast  number  of  persons, 
eager  to  rebel  at  the  first  suspicious  signal  ?  Was 
the  oligarchy  so  nervous  that  even  his  small  follow- 
ing frightened  it  into  unnecessary  slaughter  ?  Did 
it  choose  this  way  of  announcing  once  for  all  that 
it  would  tolerate  no  political  discussion  ?  Or  was  it 
merely  that  the  Doge,  Pietro  Gradenigo,  had  a  habit 
of  treating  his  enemies  with  merciless  vigor  ? 

Gradenigo  lived  to  weather  a  more  formidable 
tempest,  which  burst  upon  Venice  in  1310.  The 
chief  conspirator  was  Bajamonte  Tiepolo,  grandson 
of  the  Doge,  Lorenzo,  who  had  among  his  accom- 
plices members  of  the  Querini  and  Badoeri  families, 
patricians  like  himself  of  ancient  lineage,  together 
with  their  adherents  and  a  considerable  following 
of  the  common  people.  The  movement  was  clearly 
aristocratic,  and  in  spite  of  the  pretense  that  it 
aimed  at  restoring  the  ancient  popular  government, 
its  real  motives  seem  to  be  due  to  private  griev- 
ances of  the  Querini  and  Badoeri,  and  to  the  per- 
sonal ambition  of  Tiepolo.  Gradenigo's  harshness 
had  exasperated  all  these  men,  and  his  quarrel  with 
the  Pope  and  with  Ferrara,  resulting  in  commercial 
disaster  and  hard  times,  had  aroused  general  dis- 
content.    How  much  an  intelligent  opposition  to 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  113 

the  Great  Council  helped  to  add  strength  to  the 
cause  can  only  be  conjectured.  The  Tiepolo 
family  had  long  been  j^opular,  and  Bajamonte 
might  count  not  only  on  this  inherited  good  will, 
but  on  the  enthusiasm  which  he  himself  kindled. 
The  people  called  him  "  the  Great  Knight " ;  his 
friends  looked  to  him  for  decisive  counsel  and 
valiant  deeds. 

During  many  months  the  conspiracy  grew  in 
secret.  Then,  the  time  being  ripe,  it  was  planned 
that  very  early  in  the  morning  of  June  15,  1310, 
Tiepolo  should  lead  a  band  of  armed  men  into  the 
Piazza  of  St.  Mark  through  the  narrow  Merceria 
lane,  and  that  simultaneously  Marco  Querini  should 
appear  with  another  band  by  the  Ponte  de'  Dai. 
Badoer,  who  hurried  to  the  mainland  to  collect  a 
third  body  of  allies,  was  to  bring  his  force  by 
water,  seize  the  Grand  Canal,  and  join  his  friends 
in  the  Piazza.  When  dawn  came,  a  terrific  storm, 
with  thunder  and  lightning,  broke  over  the  city ; 
but  the  conspirators,  who  had  been  hiding  in  the 
Querini  Palace  beyond  the  Rialtb,  resolved  to  start. 
Querini's  men,  either  because  they  had  a  shorter 
route  or  a  swifter  gait,  reached  the  Piazza  first. 
There,  to  their  surprise,  they  found  a  large  force 
of  the  Doge's  followers  drawn  up,  a  traitor,  Marco 
Donati,  having  revealed  the  plot  to  Gradenigo. 
Querini  dashed  bravely  at  the  enemy,  but  his 
troop  was  quickly  cut  to  pieces,  and  he  and  his 
son  were  slain.  A  few  moments  later,  when 
Tiepolo's  men  issued  in  two  divisions  on  the  Pi- 


114  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

azza,  one  by  the  way  of  the  present  Clock  Tower 
and  the  other  by  S.  Basso,  they  saw  a  heap  of 
dead  and  dying  comrades,  and  the  ducal  forces 
flushed  with  one  victory  and  eager  for  another. 
Nothing  daunted,  Tiepolo  led  a  charge;  there 
was  furious  hand-to-hand  fighting,  and  then,  after 
a  brief  space,  the  conspirators  gave  way  and 
rushed  by  whatever  outlet  they  could  from  the 
Square.  The  tumult  had  by  this  time  awakened 
the  citizens,  who  ran  to  the  windows  and  pelted 
or  jeered  the  fugitives.  One  woman,  whether  acci- 
dentally or  not,  brushed  from  her  window-sill  a 
flowerpot  which  struck  and  killed  Tiepolo's  stand- 
ard bearer.  Into  the  mud  dropped  the  banner,  with 
its  motto  "  Liberty,"  and  no  one  rescued  it.  The 
day  was  lost. 

Tiepolo  and  the  remnant  of  his  force  did  not, 
however,  despair.  They  reached  their  quarter 
beyond  the  Rialto,  having  hewn  down  the  Rialto 
bridge,  then  of  wood,  and  fortified  themselves  in 
their  houses,  which  were  solid  enough  to  stand  a 
siege.  Badoer  was  intercepted  on  the  Lagoon,  but 
Tiepolo  held  out  so  successfully  that  the  Doge, 
fearful  lest  a  long  struggle  might  lead  to  a  general 
rising,  offered  amnesty  for  the  underlings  and  mere 
banishment  for  the  heads  of  the  conspiracy.  The 
mild  terms  were  accepted,  and  we  hear  of  no  more 
disorder.  From  a  distance,  Tiepolo  continued  to 
plot  and  to  hope,  and  he  doubtless  had  friends  in 
the  city  who  kept  his  cause  alive;  but  nothing 
came  of  it,  and  nearly  twenty  years  later  he  van- 


V  FIXING  THE  CONSTITUTION  115 

ished  from  the  scene.  Historians  and  romancers 
have  made  the  most  of  this  episode ;  yet  when  we 
measure  it  calmly,  it  seems  not  more  important 
than  Jack  Cade's  rebellion  in  England,  nor  more 
formidable  than  Aaron  Burr's  treason  in  the  United 
States.  We  would  fain  see  in  it  a  high,  patriotic 
motive,  and  yet  what  strikes  us  throughout  is  the 
working  of  personal  resentment  and  of  ambition. 

Bajamonte  Tiepolo's  fleeting  conspiracy  had  one 
lasting  result,  —  it  called  into  existence  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ten  as  the  supreme  executive  branch  of  the 
state.  Since  the  Closing  of  the  Great  Council, 
experience  showed  that  the  Venetian  constitution 
provided  for  everything  except  this.  The  Doge, 
theoretically  the  chief  executive,  was  too  much 
restricted  to  act  quickly.  The  Great  Council  was 
too  unwieldy ;  no  assembly,  numbering  many  hun- 
dred members,  has  ever  succeeded  in  both  execu- 
tive and  legislative  work.  Even  the  Senate,  the  real 
core  of  the  Great  Council,  and  the  masters  of  the 
Republic,  were  too  large  a  body  for  carrying  out 
promptly  the  details  of  government,  and  fdr  assur- 
ing a  compact,  vigorous,  and  uninterrupted  policy. 
Tiepolo's  outbreak  revealed  this  grave  defect,  and 
on  July  10,  1310,  less  than  a  month  after  the  affair 
collapsed,  the  Great  Council  voted  that  ten  persons 
should  be  nominated  by  itself  and  ten  by  the  Doge 
and  his  advisers,  and  that  from  these  twenty  a  com- 
mittee of  ten  should  be  chosen  by  the  Great  Council 
to  take  steps  for  the  safety  of  the  Republic.  This 
committee,  temporary  in  its  origin,  was  continued 


116  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE         chap,  v 

from  term  to  term,  until  on  July  20,  1335,  it  was 
declared  permanent. 

Few  legislative  bodies  have  been  so  generally 
misunderstood  as  this  Council  of  Ten.  It  has  been 
painted  as  a  group  of  fiends,  pitiless,  self-seeking, 
delighting  in  torture ;  in  reality,  the  Ten  were  the 
Venetian  cabinet,  probably  the  most  hard-working 
body,  generation  after  generation,  in  the  world. 
They  deliberated  in  secret,  —  as  cabinets  do  to-day, 
—  but  their  procedure  was  governed  by  strict  rules, 
and  their  public  acts,  which  often  seemed  summary, 
were  the  result  of  careful  discussion.  Every  device 
was  adopted  to  withdraw  the  Ten  from  the  least  cor- 
rupting influence.  Personal  aggrandizement  was 
cut  off,  for  the  Ten  held  office  for  only  a  year,  and 
each  new  council  was  quick  to  scrutinize  the  acts 
of  its  predecessor.  The  Ten  punished  severely  but 
not  inhumanly,  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
time ;  their  secrecy  was  their  most  questionable 
weapon,  but  they  were  numerous  enough  —  with 
the  Doge  and  his  six  councilors,  seventeen  persons 
sat  at  its  sessions  —  to  render  real  secrecy  impos- 
sible and  long-continued  collective  inhumanity  im- 
probable. Without  rest  they  worked  for  Venice ; 
and  if  we  judge  by  their  results,  running  through 
four  centuries,  we  shall  conclude  that  they  have 
been  surpassed  by  no  other  similar  body  in  sagacity, 
in  ability,  and  in  single-minded  devotion  to  state 
interests.  With  the  creation  of  the  Council  of  Ten, 
Venice  completed  her  political  organism. 


CHAPTER  VI 
PERILS  OF  THE  NEW  REGIME 

The  reign  of  Pietro  Gradenigo  (1289-1311),  like 
that  of  Enrico  Dandolo  a  century  earlier,  marks  a 
crisis  in  Venetian  history.  The  Closing  of  the 
Great  Council,  the  creation  of  the  Ten,  the  reorgan- 
ization of  executive  and  administrative  powers  to 
conform  to  the  remodeled  constitution,  are  signs 
that  the  Eepublic  had  reached  maturity.  Through 
Dandolo,  Venice  converted  her  commercial  interests 
into  imperial  responsibilities  in  the  Orient ;  through 
Gradenigo,  she  adopted  what  proved  to  be  her  final 
political  machinery.  All  her  future  achievements 
were  to  be  made  with  the  tools  now  forged.  The 
oligarchy  could  never  have  established  itself  so 
quickly,  and  on  the  whole  so  quietly,  unless  the 
Venetians  had  come  through  the  intuition  which 
springs  from  social  experience  to  perceive  that  that 
was  the  natural  form  for  their  government  to  take. 
Bocconio's  brief  flurry,  Bajamonte  Tiepolo's  meteoric 
conspiracy,  simply  serve  to  gauge  the  overwhelming 
strength  of  the  current  which  engulfed  them. 

That  this  change  was  effected  without  serious 
internal  upheavals  is  all  the  more  noteworthy,  be- 
cause Gradenigo's  reign  was  beset  by  foreign  diffi.- 
117 


118  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

culties  and  disasters.  The  Genoese  annihilated  the 
Venetian  fleet  at  Curzola  (1298)  and  threatened  to 
take  the  lead  again  in  the  Levant.  Zara,  abetted 
by  the  King  of  Hungary,  rebelled.  Kelations  with 
Padua  became  unsettled  —  a  bad  omen,  because 
Venice  depended  chiefly  on  the  Paduan  and  Tre- 
visan  markets  for  her  food.  Worst  of  all,  by  inter- 
fering in  a  local  quarrel  at  Ferrara,  she  brought 
on  herself  the  Interdict  of  the  Pope,  who  claimed 
suzerainty  in  that  city.  The  Interdict  proved  to  be 
a  very  terrible  curse;  not  so  much  because  it  inter- 
rupted the  church  ceremonies,  which  were  a  part  of 
the  daily  life  of  the  time,  as  because  it  absolved  every 
one  from  keeping  with  the  Venetians  the  laws  of  com- 
mon humanity.  To  give  a  Venetian  food  or  lodging 
was  declared  a  mortal  sin ;  but  to  refuse  to  pay  a 
debt  justly  owed  him,  or  to  seize  his  goods,  or  to 
rob  his  stores,  or  to  kill  him  even  —  these  were 
meritorious  acts.  Such  the  monstrous  perversion 
of  morals  which  the  Koman  hierarchs  connived  at 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  Venetians  soon 
found  their  trade  paralyzed  and  their  food  supply 
imperiled;  for  their  rivals  grasped  eagerly  this 
chance,  offered  by  the  Church,  of  injuring  them 
without  danger  of  reprisal.  When  the  masses  felt 
the  pinch  of  privation,  they  clamored  against  the 
war,  which  had  never  been  popular ;  but  Gradenigo 
stood  firm,  and  at  his  death  (1311)  he  left  the 
Interdict  among  his  legacies  to  his  successor. 

Although  we  cannot  tell  in  detail  how  far  the 
fateful  changes  of  his  reign  were  due  to  him,  Pietro 


I 


VI  PERILS   OF  THE  NEW  Rl^GIME  119 

Gradeiiigo  was,  without  question,  one  of  the  most 
imperious  of  the  doges.  A  steadfast  friend  and  an 
unrelenting  enemy,  he  had  the  art  of  so  weaving 
liis  passions  into  his  country's  policy  that  they  look 
to  us  identical  with  it.  More  than  that,  he  made 
the  cause  of  a  caste  the  cause  of  the  state.  He  pre- 
ferred craft  to  force,  but  he  had  no  scruples  against 
using  any  weapon  which  the  occasion  called  for. 
In  his  tenacity,  which  some  called  stubbornness 
and  others  prejudice,  he  resembled  the  Younger 
Pitt;  and  he  had,  despite  his  class  partisanship, 
Pitt's  way,  the  statesman's  way,  of  taking  large 
views  of  international  issues.  Like  Pitt,  too,  he 
was  indifferent  to  popular  odium  and  unshaken  by 
disasters  abroad.  Like  Pitt,  he  died  at  a  moment 
when  his  twenty  years'  rule  had  plunged  his  coun- 
try into  calamities. 

To  succeed  him,  the  electors  chose  Marino  Zorzi, 
an  octogenarian,  whom  they  happened  to  see  cross- 
ing the  Square  on  one  of  the  errands  of  mercy  which 
earned  him  the  reputation  of  saint.  They  hoped 
that  his  piety  might  persuade  Clement  V  to  rescind 
the  Interdict;  but  the  good  man  died  in  a  few 
months,  and  his  successor,  Giovanni  Soranzo,  found 
the  payment  of  one  hundred  thousand  ducats  much 
more  efficacious  in  placating  the  Pope.  Clement  V, 
true  to  the  immemorial  practice  of  the  Holy  See, 
granted  Divine  favor  for  gold.  The  Papacy  had 
apparently  been  successful  in  its  blackmail  —  for 
that  is  what  the  Interdict  amounted  to ;  but  it  was 
such  actions   as  this  which  were   slowly  arousing 


120  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  conscience  of  Christendom  against  the  most 
corrupt  of  human  institutions.  The  Papal  juggling 
of  the  things  of  God  with  the  things  of  Mammon 
had  already  led  to  the  exile  at  Avignon;  in  the 
next  century  the  Papacy  was  to  be  punished  by 
the  Great  Schism,  and  then  to  be  disrupted  by  the 
KelJrmation. 

Doge  Soranzo  did  the  state  more  than  one  shin- 
ing service.  He  put  down  the  rebellion  at  Zara; 
he  strengthened  the  navy  so  that,  while  there  was 
no  open  war,  it  checked  Genoese  depredations ;  and, 
above  all,  he  extended,  by  commercial  treaties,  the 
trade  of  Venice.  The  real  strength  of  the  Kepub- 
lic  appeared  in  its  rapid  recovery  from  the  disasters 
of  Gradenigo's  reign.  The  ensign  of  St.  Mark's  was 
soon  seen  again  in  every  port,  and  about  this  time 
the  introduction  of  the  manufacture  of  mirrors  and 
an  improved  method  of  silk  weaving  opened  new 
sources  of  wealth.  The  general  acceptance  of  the 
oligarchic  regime  produced  an  internal  calm  in 
which  all  classes  prospered.  The  gradual  trans- 
forming of  the  Council  of  Ten  into  a  permanent 
institution  completed  the  structure  of  the  state, 
giving  it  an  organ  by  which  it  could  both  act 
promptly  and  hand  on  a  continuous  policy.  In 
compactness,  in  average  wealth,  in  ability  to  focus 
her  power  quickly  at  a  given  point,  and  to  maintain 
it  unimpaired  for  a  long  time,  not  less  than  in  gen- 
eral civilization,  Venice  surpassed  all  her  neighbors. 
In  1325  she  seemed  impregnable. 

By  this  date,  Europe  was  entering  a  new  epoch. 


VI  PERILS   OF  THE  NEW  Rl^GIME  121 

The  Church  and  the  Empire,  which  during  four 
centuries  had  struggled  for  mastery  in  the  West, 
had  worn  each  other  out.  In  every  country,  politi- 
cal states  were  forming,  usually  on  dynastic  princi- 
ples, and  even  the  nominal  suzerainty  of  the  Empire 
had  ceased  to  be  respected.  In  Italy,  the  little 
medieval  republics  had  nearly  run  their  co.irse; 
the  single  despot,  or  a  family  of  tyrants,  was  span- 
gling the  free  municipalities.  The  Church  ^o, 
although  it  still  had  large  capacity  for  doing  harm, 
—  as  when  it  proclaimed  an  interdict,  —  was  no 
longer  held  in  awe.  Innocent  III  smote  terror  into 
the  hearts  of  kings ;  Boniface  VIII  used  the  same 
words,  but  terrified  nobody. 

These  changes  called  for  a  readjusting  of  Vene- 
tian policy.  The  Republic  could  no  longer  lean 
now  toward  the  Pope  and  now  toward  the  Em- 
peror, according  as  one  or  the  other  seemed  less 
likely  to  injure  her.  She  had  to  deal  with  her  im- 
mediate neighbors,  the  despots  of  the  mainland, 
whose  mutual  quarrels  caused  the  situation  to  dis- 
solve and  reform  as  swiftly  as  the  delirium  of  a 
fever  patient.  Amid  the  whirligig  of  change  there 
was  no  principle,  save  change,  on  which  to  base  her 
calculations.  A  compact  made  with  the  lord  of 
Padua  in  the  spring  might  be  worthless  by  autumn, 
for  then  a  new  lord  might  rule  in  Padua.  After 
long  navigating  by  trade  winds,  she  had  come  to  a 
region  of  squall  and  hurricane.  Only  in  the  Orient 
did  her  traditional  rivalry  with  the  Genoese  con- 
tinue unabated. 


122  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

That  Venice  should  reach  the  fourteenth  century 
without  gaining  a  foothold  on  the  mainland,  from 
which  only  a  narrow  stretch  of  Lagoon  separated 
her,  is  indeed  remarkable.  Chance,  or  a  sudden 
caprice  for  conquest,  or  the  settlement  of  some  war 
claim,  might  have  thrust  territory  upon  her;  but 
in  nothing  did  the  Venetians  show  their  political 
sagacity  so  plainly  as  in  their  refusal  to  be  lured 
shoreward.  They  were  a  sea  people,  who  knew 
that  their  safety  lay  on  the  sea.  Their  narrow 
stretch  of  Lagoon  was  a  frontier  more  difficult  than 
the  Alps  for  an  enemy  to  cross.  They  had  always 
taken  care  that  the  masters  of  the  mainland  should 
not  trouble  Venetian  trade.  They  often  interfered 
to  punish  trespassers  on  their  rights,  or  to  secure 
larger  concessions,  or  to  support  a  friendly  ruler  at 
war  with  one  of  their  enemies ;  but,  having  gained 
their  end,  they  resisted  the  temptation  to  owner- 
ship. In  Gradenigo's  reign,  however,  Venice  aban- 
doned her  historical  policy  and  accepted  Ferrara, 
where  she  had  many  commercial  interests,  from  one 
of  the  claimants  to  the  lordship  of  that  city.  The 
Pope,  as  we  just  now  saw,  happened  to  be  another 
claimant,  and  by  resorting  to  the  Interdict  he 
succeeded  in  upholding  his  suzerainty  over  the 
Ferrarese. 

Although  balked  in  their  first  move,  the  Vene- 
tians began  to  regard  expansion  westward  as  more 
and  more  natural,  and  events  soon  combined  to 
convince  them  that  it  would  be  beneficial  if  not 
indispensable.     Padua,  their  nearest  neighbor,  was 


VI  PERILS  OF  THE  NEW  Ri^GIME  123 

dominated  by  the  Carrara  family,  Verona  by  the 
Scaligers,  Milan  by  the  Visconti.  Of  these,  the 
Scaligers  were  by  so  far  the  most  powerful  that 
they  threatened  to  subjugate  all  their  rivals 
and  set  up  a  kingdom  in  Northern  Italy.  By 
1329  they  controlled  not  only  Verona,  Brescia,  and 
Vicenza,  but  Feltre  and  Belluno, — which  com- 
manded the  passes  to  the  north,  —  besides  Treviso, 
mistress  of  the  plain  from  which  Venice  drew  her 
provisions,  and  Padua,  where  the  Carrara  were 
reduced  to  vassalage.  The  Scaligers  had  evidently 
no  intention  of  stopping  there.  They  broke  up 
long-standing  commercial  agreements  and  refused 
to  negotiate  new  ones. 

In  Venice  the  war  party  prevailed.  The  new 
Doge,  Francesco  Dandolo,  urged  a  further  delay, 
and  set  forth  with  due  emphasis  the  peril  of  giving 
up  the  policy  which  had  been  their  safeguard  for 
nine  hundred  years ;  but  present  needs  outweighed 
every  appeal  to  tradition.  There  was  no  arguing 
away  the  fact  that  if  Delia  Scala  owned  the  prov- 
ince on  which  Venice  relied  for  food,  he  held  her  at 
his  mercy.  So  the  Republic  resolved  to  crush  him, 
or  at  least  to  wrest  from  him  so  much  of  the  main- 
land as  she  needed  for  her  food ;  1329,  the  year  of 
this  decision,  marks  another  turning-point  in  the 
career  of  Venice. 

She  did  not  embark  on  the  war  recklessly,  but 
formed  a  coalition  with  Florence,  from  which  Lucca 
had  lately  been  seized  by  the  Scaligers,  and  with 
Visconti,  who   knew  that   his  rival  would   attack 


124  A  SHORT  mSTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Milan  at  the  first  opportunity.  Alberto  de'  Rossi, 
lord  of  Parma,  joined  the  league ;  and  so  did  the 
King  of  Bohemia  and  the  Duke  of  Carinthia,  whose 
frontiers  had  been  encroached  upon.  As  soon  as 
fortune  began  to  favor  the  allies,  other  Lombard 
princes  —  Obizzo  d'  Este  and  Gonzaga  of  Mantua  — 
came  over  to  them,  and,  finally,  Massilio  Carrara, 
who  held  Padua  for  Delia  Scala,  agreed  to  betray 
the  city  into  their  hands.  As  a  reward  for  his 
treachery  he  was  continued  in  his  lordship  there. 
After  nearly  ten  years  of  fighting,  Delia  Scala  sued 
for  a  peace  (January,  1337-8),  by  the  terms  of 
which  Venice  profited  most.  She  acquired  the 
Trevisan,  besides  Bassano  and  Castelbaldo,  and  she 
exercised  a  virtual  protectorate  over  Padua;  the 
passage  of  the  Po  was  made  free,  the  old  commer- 
cial treaties  were  renewed.  But  Delia  Scala  refused 
to  surrender  Lucca  to  the  Florentines,  or  Padua  to 
De'  Rossi.  The  other  allies  fared  better ;  for  even 
when  they  received  no  direct  increase  of  territory, 
they  suffered  no  loss,  and  they  had  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  the  supremacy  of  the  Scaligers  was 
crippled. 

Henceforth,  the  possession  of  that  small  province 
on  the  mainland  is  a  large  factor  in  the  destiny  of 
Venice.  It  makes  her  a  party  to  the  incessant 
struggles  of  the  North  Italian  despots.  It  gives 
them  the  chance  to  assail  her,  which  they  never  had 
before;  because  till  now  the  Lagoon  was  her  un- 
failing bulwark.  Now  she  has  no  strategic  fron- 
tier; nor  shall  she  find   one,  though   she   expand 


VI  PERILS   OF  THE  NEW  REGIME  125 

westward  over  all  Lombardy.  There  are  only 
rivers  which  serve  to  mark  boundaries,  but  not  to 
hinder  a  determined  foe.  Manifestly,  the  Trevisan 
is  no  finality ;  it  gives  her  the  indispensable  meat 
and  corn,  but  it  lays  on  her  the  burden  of  further 
conquest. 

For  the  present,  the  Venetians  saw  only  the 
benefits  which  they  had  won,  —  their  defeat  of  a 
neighbor  more  malignant  than  Ezzelino,  and  their 
relief  from  the  danger  of  being  cut  off  from  food. 
They  at  once  devised  a  liberal  government  for 
Treviso,  their  purpose  being  to  leave  undisturbed 
as  much  of  the  old  order  as  was  compatible,  instead 
of  forcing  on  an  unwilling  people  a  system  which 
they  would  hate  because  it  was  foreign.  Most  of 
the  officials,  except  the  highest,  were  natives ;  the 
2Jodesta,  or  governor,  was  usually  an  outsider,  chosen 
by  the  local  council.  This  harmonized  with  the 
common  practice  of  the  Italian  cities  during  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  when,  to  pre- 
vent party  or  family  feuds,  a  stranger,  who  could 
be  neutral,  was  called  in  as  municipal  head.  No 
other  state  furnished  so  many  podestdis  as  Venice,  a 
fact  which  bears  witness  to  the  inbred  statesman- 
like quality  of  her  sons.  Her  care  to  respect  local 
rights  and  to  provide  that  the  advantages  of  the 
new  connection  between  herself  and  Treviso  should 
be  really  reciprocal,  made  her  rule  so  popular  that 
many  a  tyrant-tormented  city  hankered  after  it. 

To  convince  her  dependants  that  they  were  all 
members   of   one   family,  in  whose  common  pros- 


126  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

perity  each  could  share,  became  the  policy  which 
she  consistently  followed  on  the  mainland.  En- 
lightened self-interest,  if  not  generosity  and  love 
of  fair  play,  warned  her  against  turning  over  the 
offices  wholesale  to  her  own  office  seekers,  and  from 
levying  exorbitant  customs  for  the  sake  of  enrich- 
ing a  few  monopolists  at  home.  She  knew  that  the 
cost  of  an  army  maintained  to  suppress  a  people 
irritated  by  tariff  injustice,  or  perhaps  driven  to 
desperation  by  famine,  must  far  exceed  any  profit 
which  such  a  measure  might  bring.  We  must  not, 
however,  exaggerate  her  virtue  by  implying  that 
she  always  lived  up  to  her  ideal.  Complete  politi- 
cal disinterestedness  was  an  anachronism  in  1340, 
just  as  it  is  in  1905 ;  and  the  minute  precautions 
which  the  Signory  took  to  prevent  peculation  and 
injustice  on  the  part  of  its  officials  abroad  show 
that  transgressions  must  have  been  frequent ;  they 
show  also  that  the  Signory's  intentions  were  fair. 
The  shortness  of  the  term  for  which  those  officials 
were  appointed,  usTially  only  a  year  or  sixteen 
months,  proved  a  strong  incentive  to  the  very  evils 
it  was  intended  to  avert.  On  the  whole,  however, 
Venice  was  centuries  ahead  of  other  nations  in  this 
matter,  as  any  one  can  see  •  who  compares  her 
general  treatment  of  her  mainland  provinces  with 
England's  treatment  of  Ireland  down  through  the 
nineteenth  century. 

But  in  encouraging  the  prosperity  of  all  her 
possessions,  and  even  in  allowing  them  to  retain 
a  large  part  of  their  independence  in  local  affairs. 


VI  PERILS  OF  THE  NEW  R:6GIME  127 

Venice  did  not  think  of  admitting  them  to  equality 
with  herself.  She  might  enroll  Trevisan  magnates 
among  her  patricians,  but  she  gave  Treviso  no  voice 
in  her  Great  Council.  Candia  revolted  in  the  hope 
of  securing  representation  in  the  central  govern- 
ment; Venice  crushed  the  revolt  and  its  motive. 
She  would  never  listen  to  any  scheme  of  federa- 
tion. The  representative  system  had  never  been 
her  system,  why,  then,  should  she  adopt  it  for  the 
sake  of  her  tributaries  ?  The  ancient  Roman 
Eepublic  wrought  through  one  political  organism ; 
medieval  Venice  through  another;  the  modern 
constitutional  state  works  through  yet  another:  it 
is  by  no  means  certain  that  any  of  them  would 
have  been  improved  by  borrowing  the  strong  points 
peculiar  to  the  others,  but  it  is  certain  that  such 
combinations  no  more  occur  in  history  than  a  cross 
between  an  elephant  and  a  tiger  occurs  in  nature. 
When  we  would  follow  the  growth  of  representa- 
tive government,  we  look  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  ; 
and  yet  the  English  Parliament,  which  originated 
and  grew  by  virtue  of  this  principle,  would  not 
after  its  colonists  had  been  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  in  America  extend  it  to  them,  who  were  not 
conquered  peoples,  but  England's  own  children. 
Our  business,  therefore,  is  not  to  declare  that 
Venice  made  a  mistake  in  rejecting  what  we 
should  now  call  imperial  federation,  but  to  observe 
what  her  system  actually  was,  how  far  it  supplied 
her  own  needs  and  those  of  her  dependants,  and 
how  it  compares  with  the  systems  of  other  nations. 


128  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

On  the  whole,  after  making  due  allowance  for  the 
different  standards  of  well-being,,  we  can  affirm 
that  the  dependants  of  Venice  enjoyed  as  large  a 
share  of  their  products,  and  were  as  contented  and 
as  little  tormented  and  despoiled,  as  any  other 
subject  peoples  in  the  world. 

By  the  peace  of  1339  the  Republic  seemed  about 
to  enter  on  a  long  era  of  prosperity.  She  had  ably 
conducted  a  campaign  on  land  and  won  coveted 
territory  —  a  success  in  which  only  the  immediate 
benefit  was  as  yet  apparent.  She  had  placed  an 
ally  over  Padua,  which  served  as  a  buffer  between 
her  and  the  discomfited  Scaligers.  Above  all,  she 
had  proved  herself  not  less  adroit  in  dealing  with 
the  new  epoch  than  she  had  been  in  the  old  days  of 
the  Empire  and  the  Church.  In  her  social  con- 
ditions her  progress,  during  the  past  half-century, 
had  been  very  rapid.  Her  churches,  her  palaces, 
her  Arsenal,  were  become  famous ;  her  commoners 
lived  in  greater  comfort  and  refinement  than  nobles 
elsewhere,  while  her  nobles  displayed  a  princely 
luxury  which  the  government  strove  to  check  by 
sumptuary  laws. 

And  as  if  fate  had  planned  that  rare  combination 
of  high  conditions  and  a  great  man,  Andrea  Dan- 
dolo  was  at  this  juncture  elected  Doge  (1343-54). 
From  childhood  he  was  fortune's  darling.  Dis- 
tinguishing himself  as  a  youth  at  the  University  of 
Padua,  he  served  as  professor  of  law  there,  until  his 
services  were  called  for  by  the  state.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-three  he  was  a  Procurator  of  St.  Mark's,  at 


VI  PERILS  OF  THE  NEW  REGIME  129 

twenty-five  a  Decemvir,  then  pocZes^(^  of  Trieste,  then 
a  commissioner  in  the  field  during  the  last  part  of 
the  war  with  Scaliger,  and  finally  Doge  at  thirty- 
six.  In  addition  to  his  extraordinary  gifts  in 
scholarship  and  administration,  his  character  was 
so  noble  and  his  manners  so  winning  that  the 
Venetians  nicknamed  him  "  Count  of  Virtue  "  and 
"Courtesy."  He  is  one  of  the  few  men  of  the 
Renaissance  who  would  find  himself  least  a  stranger 
were  he  to  come  to  life  now.  Under  happier  con- 
ditions he  might  have  enjoyed  the  renown  of  a 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici. 

But  he  had  hardly  put  on  the  corno  before  fortune 
turned  against  him.  In  response  to  the  Pope's 
appeal,  Venice  joined  a  coalition  against  the  Turks 
who  were  beginning  to  harass  the  Christians  in  the 
Levant.  The  allies  destroyed  the  Turkish  flotilla 
and  then  disbanded,  too  easily  satisfied  with  a 
superficial  success.  Soon  after,  the  Venetian  fleet 
was  involved  in  another  quarrel  with  the  Genoese. 
Zara  rebelled  and  had  to  be  reconquered,  a  task 
which  involved  a  conflict  with  the  Hungarian  king. 
In  1348  Venice,  in  common  with  Western  Europe, 
was  stricken  by  the  Great  Plague,  which  smote  her 
just  after  an  earthquake  had  wrought  havoc.  The 
pestilence  lasted  nearly  six  months  and  swept  away 
more  than  half  the  entire  population  of  the  Dogado. 
Fifty  patrician  families  were  utterly  wiped  out. 
Even  before  the  plague  had  spent  its  force,  a  revolt 
at  Capo  d'  Istria  must  be  put  down ;  and  then  war 
with   the   Genoese   came   in   earnest.      When   the 


130  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Venetians  defeated  them,  the  state  of  Genoa  vol- 
untarily sought  protection  of  Giovanni  Visconti, 
Lord  of  Milan,  thus  making  that  despot  by  far  too 
formidable.  Venice  resolved  to  pursue  her  advan- 
tage at  sea,  but  in  the  battle  of  Sapienza  (Novem- 
ber 4, 1354)  her  ships  were  overwhelmed.  Andrea 
Dandolodid  not  live  to  bear  that  humiliation  ;  hav- 
ing died  a  few  weeks  before  (September  7,  1354) 
during  the  gloom  of  three  earlier  reverses.  He 
knew  that  ruin,  through  no  blame  of  his,  hung  over 
his  country.  Yet  such  was  the  nobility  of  his  per- 
sonality that,  despite  the  failures,  his  countrymen 
ever  revered  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  their 
doges.  The  statutes  of  Venice,  which  he  caused  to 
be  codified,  and  the  history  which  he  wrote  are 
monuments  which  time  cannot  wear  away. 

To  the  ordeal  of  calamity  was  added  the  ordeal 
of  treason.  The  electors  chose  as  Doge  Marino 
Faliero,  a  striking  example  of  the  type  of  expert 
public  servant  that  the  Eepublic  knew  how  to  breed 
and  use.  Faliero  had  held  many  important  offices 
at  home  and  many  embassies  abroad ;  he  had  been 
podestd,  of  Treviso,  and  in  1346  he  commanded  the 
army  which  worsted  the  King  of  Hungary  at  Luca. 
Although  seventy-six  years  old,  he  enjoyed  that 
mature  vigor  which  was  not  uncommon  among 
Venetian  statesmen.  But  he  suffered  from  an  un- 
governable temper,  which  wrecked  him  and 
threatened  to  overwhelm  the  state.  The  story  of 
his  conspiracy  does  not  seem  to  account  for  so 
grave  an  affair. 


VI  PERILS  OF  THE  NEW  REGIME  131 

At  one  of  the  Doge's  receptions  a  young  noble, 
Michele  Steno,  talks  unbecomingly  to  one  of  the 
Dogaressa's  ladies.  The  Doge  flies  into  a  passion 
and  orders  him  to  be  forcibly  put  out.  Steno  in 
revenge  scribbles  over  the  ducal  throne  a  ribald 
rhyme,  scandalizing  the  Dogaressa.  The  Council 
try  him,  and  in  view  of  his  youth  and  of  the 
hilarity  of  the  occasion,  they  let  him  off  with  a 
light  sentence.  Faliero  feels  doubly  insulted,  and 
secretly  vows  vengeance  on  the  patriciate.  Some 
time  later  there  comes  to  him  to  demand  justice 
Gisello,  Admiral  of  the  Arsenal,  who  has  been 
beaten  by  a  truculent  noble.  The  Doge  listens 
eagerly,  but  shakes  his  head,  and  asks  with  a  bitter 
voice,  what  hope  there  can  be  of  wringing  justice 
from  these  overweening  nobles.  "  But  we  bind 
wild  beasts,"  says  Gisello;  "and  when  we  cannot 
bind,  we  kill  them ! "  A  look  as  of  a  sudden 
inspiration  spreads  over  the  Doge's  face.  He  and 
Gisello  understand  each  other  and  outline  a 
plot. 

This  meeting  of  Doge  and  Gisello  takes  place 
early  in  April.  In  the  course  of  the  next  week 
perhaps  a  score  of  leading  conspirators,  nearly  all 
commoners  or  plebeians,  have  been  enrolled.  The 
plan  is  simple :  very  early  in  the  morning  of  the 
15th,  bands  of  men  are  to  alarm  the  city  by 
sounding  the  tocsin  and  by  shouting,  "  The  Genoese 
are  upon  us  !  "  As  the  nobles  rush  into  St.  Mark's 
Piazza,  they  are  to  be  slain  in  detail  by  squads  of 
conspirators    stationed    at    each    entrance.      Then 


132  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Faliero  will  be  acclaimed  sovereign  of  the  state, 
purged  of  its  oligarchy. 

Up  to  April  14  all  fares  well.  But  on  that  day 
Beltrame,  a  furrier,  seized  with  compunction,  goes 
to  his  patron,  Lion,  who  is  not  in  the  plot,  and 
begs  him  to  stay  indoors  on  the  morrow.  Lion 
asks  why,  and  little  by  little  worms  the  secret  from 
his  friend.  An  hour  or  two  later  he  brings  the 
news  to  the  Ten  and  the  Forty ;  they  summon 
police,  soldiers,  and  volunteers,  and  lay  the  matter 
before  the  Doge,  who  is  not  yet  suspected.  He 
feigns  incredulity.  But  in  a  few  hours  the  truth 
leaks  out.  On  April  15,  Faliero,  instead  of  triumph- 
ing, is  under  arrest.  On  the  16th  he  is  tried  by  a 
special  tribunal,  and,  in  the  face  of  damning  testi- 
mony, he  acknowledges  his  guilt  —  acknowledges 
it  bravely,  moreover,  and  declares  that  it  deserves 
the  highest  penalty.  The  tribunal  sentences  him 
to  death. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  Faliero  is  led  to  the 
steps  outside  the  Great  Council  Hall  and  stripped  of 
his  ducal  corno  and  other  insignia.  They  put  a  black 
skullcap  on  his  head,  a  black  gown  on  his  shoulders, 
and  escort  him  to  the  landing  of  the  Great  Stair- 
case. Neither  old  age  nor  fear  makes  his  voice 
quaver  as  he  asks  pardon  for  his  great  crime.  He 
lays  his  head  on  the  block  without  flinching,  and 
the  headsman  severs  it  at  one  blow. 

Such  tile  gist  of  the  famous  conspiracy,  so  far 
as  we  are  ever  likely  to  know  it.  But  unless  we 
assume  that  wrath  is  a  reason  for  any  strange  deed. 


VI  PERILS  OF  THE  NEW  REGIME  '  133 

there  is  evidently  much  to  be  explained.  A  veteran 
statesman  of  seventy-seven  does  not  make  an  ac- 
complice of  the  first  chance  stranger,  to  upset  the 
government  over  which  he  reigns.  I  suspect  that 
the  oligarchy  doctored  the  record,  just  as  it  took 
care,  by  the  severest  penalties  against  conspirators 
and  by  generous  rewards  to  informers,  to  prevent 
further  treason.  Faliero's  penitence  on  his  way  to 
execution  sounds  less  natural  than  the  curses  which 
Byron  makes  him  utter.  And  yet  the  love  of  Venice 
was  so  mighty  in  the  hearts  of  the  Venetians,  that 
it  may  have  moved  even  Faliero  to  bless  her  before 
she  punished  him.  On  the  panel  in  the  Ducal 
Palace  where  his  portrait  should  come  in  the  series 
of  the  Doges,  they  painted  a  blank  curtain  with 
the  motto.  Hie  est  locus  Marini  Faletro  decapitati  pro 
crimmihus.  It  has  been  shrewdly  said  of  him  that 
he  first  lost  his  temper  and  then  lost  his  head. 
The  superstitious  remembered  after  his  death  that 
on  his  entry  to  the  city  as  Doge,  a  heavy  fog  misled 
his  boatmen,  so  that  they  landed  him  alongside  of 
the  two  columns  where  malefactors  were  executed, 
and  he  walked  between  the  columns  on  his  way  to 
the  Palace. 

Paliero's  conspiracy  put  the  Eepublic  to  the  final 
test,  but  she  did  not  collapse.  During  the  stormy 
decades  which  followed  she  had  to  cope  with  Car- 
rara at  Padua  and  the  King  of  Hungary,  and  with 
a  serious  rebellion  in  Candia.  She  patched  up  a 
temporary  peace  with  Genoa;  she  scourged  the 
Candiots  into  submission  ;  and  although  she  suffered 


134  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE        chap,  vi 

in  her  conflict  with  her  other  enemies,  yet  in  the 
end  she  brought  them  to  terms.  The  Paduan  despot 
(1373)  restored  her  ancient  commercial  privileges, 
destroyed  the  forts  which  he  had  built  along  the 
Brenta  to  injure  her,  and  promised  to  draw  his  salt 
supplies  from  Chioggia.  The  King  of  Hungary, 
whose  troops  had  been  worsted  in  the  battle  of 
Fossa  Nuova,  had  already  made  peace.  A  new  foe, 
the  Duke  of  Austria,  who  plunged  into  a  quarrel 
over  Trieste,  was  glad,  after  a  reverse  in  the  field, 
to  sell  out  his  Triestine  claims.  These  various  suc- 
cesses measured  the  tenacity  of  the  Eepublic  not 
less  than  its  reserve  power  and  its  stability.  But 
they  indicated  also  that  no  permanent  peace  could 
be  hoped  for  on  the  mainland,  where  each  of  her 
neighbors  might  become  without  warning  an  active 
enemy.  In  the  Levant  her  position  was  growing 
worse,  and  now  troubles  with  her  ancient  and 
fiercest  rival  broke  out  afresh,  and  hurried  her  into 
a  death  grapple  with  Genoa. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA 

The  antagonism  between  Venice  and  Genoa, 
which  old  historians  likened  to  the  long  struggle 
between  Rome  and  Carthage,  lasted  ten  generations. 
Petrarch,  who  went  to  Venice  in  1354  to  negotiate 
a  peace  on  behalf  of  Visconti,  prophesied  that  "  in- 
evitably, of  Italy's  two  Eyes,  one  will  be  put  out, 
the  other  dimmed."  To  avert  that  catastrophe,  the 
wisest  statesmen  labored ;  but  the  mutual  hatred  of 
the  republics  had  become  hereditary,  and  the  inter- 
vals of  truce  between  them  served  only  to  prepare 
for  a  new  encounter.  Rivalry  over  the  trade  of  the 
Orient,  with  which  was  bound  up  control  of  the 
Mediterranean,  was  the  incurable  cause  of  their 
enmity.  Maritime  nations  have  nearly  always 
tended  to  destroy  their  competitors.  On  land, 
while  rivals  may  fight  long  and  often,  they  usually 
consent  to  be  kept  apart  by  a  frontier;  but  for 
power  which  goes  in  ships,  there  can  be  no  frontier ; 
the  same  sea  flows  into  all  ports,  and  wherever  the 
sea  flows,  the  hostile  ships  may  sail  and  meet  and 
clash.  In  the  economic  life  of  Venice  and  Genoa 
the  merchandise  of  the  Levant  was  as  integral  a 
factor  as  is  the  wine  product  of  the  Bordelais  to 
135 


136  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

France ;  but  neither  republic  could  incorporate  the 
Levant  and  make  it  geographically  an  integral  part 
of  herself,  as  the  Bordelais  is  embedded  in  France 
or  Lancashire  in  England.  Hence  the  precarious 
voyages,  the  rapidly  shifting  relations  with  the 
Oriental  marts,  the  many  chances  left  open  for  un- 
fair dealing.  And  when  there  was  not  actual  war, 
there  might  be  almost  equal  damage  from  corsairs, 
who  flourished  till  recent  times.  Justice  has  never 
been  a  sea  goddess. 

No  one  with  adequate  dramatic  sense  has  written 
the  history  of  the  wars  between  Venice  and  Genoa. 
To  do  so  properly  would  require  a  setting  forth  of 
the  constant  interplay  between  the  internal  condi- 
tions of  each  republic  and  their  mutual  strife,  and 
besides  this,  the  reaction  of  the  Eastern  Empire  on 
its  two  chief  plunderers  would  need  to  be  analyzed. 
Our  purpose  here  is  merely  to  outline  the  course  of 
this  history  during  its  later  stages. 

At  Trapani,  in  1264,  the  Venetian  fleet  annihi- 
lated the  Genoese;  in  consequence,  the  Eastern 
Emperor  restored  the  Venetians  to  equal  trading 
privileges  in  his  empire,  and  for  twenty  years  the 
rivals  got  on  without  open  quarrel.  Meantime,  the 
Mussulmans  were  spreading  through  Asia  Minor, 
a  menace  to  Greek  and  Latin  Christians  alike ;  but 
no  effective  crusade  could  be  organized  against 
them.  In  1289  they  took  Jerusalem  and  Tripoli, 
and  snuffed  out  the  flickering  Latin  kingdom ;  in 
1291  they  captured  Ptolemais,.  the  last  Latin 
stronghold  in  Syria.     Thenceforth,  the  Venetians 


vii  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  137 

arranged  commercial  treaties  with  the  Turkish 
conquerors  —  as  usual,  they  did  not  mix  business 
and  religion  —  and  soon  their  trade  revived.  But 
the  Genoese,  who  dominated  the  Bosphorus  and 
Black  Sea  and  were  again  the  Eastern  Emperor's 
favorites,  attempted  to  exclude  the  Venetians  from 
the  Dardanelles.  Venice  was  furious.  Rich  and 
poor  joined  in  fitting  out  a  fleet  which  under  the 
command  of  Marco  Baseio  set  sail  in  the  spring 
of  1294.  Near  Ayas,  the  northeastern  bight  of  the 
Gulf  of  Alexandretta,  Baseio  fell  in  with  the  Gen- 
oese under  Spinola,  who,  by  superior  tactics,  won 
the  battle  (May  22,  1294).  Exultant  over  this  vic- 
tory, the  Genoese  equipped  an  immense  armament, 
said  to  number  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  sail  and 
forty -five  thousand  men,  with  which  its  admiral, 
Uberto  Doria,  expected  to  sweep  the  Venetians  from 
the  sea.  He  made  a  descent  on  Candia,  and  his 
countrymen  rose  and  massacred  the  Venetians  at 
Constantinople  (1295).  This  brought  retaliation, 
for  Ruggiero  Morosiui  laid  waste  Pera  and  the  Bos- 
phorus (129G).  His  colleague,  Schiavo,  .operated 
with  less  success  in  the  Black  Sea.  At  last  the  two 
enemies  fought  a  decisive  battle  on  the  Dalmatian 
coast.  Lambo  Doria,  commanding  seventy-eight 
ships,  was  discovered  in  the  harbor  of  Curzola  (Sep- 
tember 8,  1296)  by  Andrea  Dandolo  commanding 
ninety-five  Venetian  sail.  Doria,  although  outnum- 
bered, had  the  heavier  craft  and  the  superior  posi- 
tion, but  at  the  first  onset  his  line  was  broken 
through.     Soon,   however,  the   Venetians   realized 


138  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  disadvantage  of  fighting  with  the  sun  in  their 
eyes  and  the  wind  against  them.  Some  of  their 
galleys  were  blown  ashore ;  the  captains  of  others, 
panic-stricken,  began  to  retreat,  leaving  a  fatal  gap 
in  the  centre,  through  which  Doria  drove  his  ships. 
Nothing  now  could  save  the  day  for  the  Venetians, 
of  whom  five  thousand  were  taken  prisoners;  many 
more  were  slain,  and  only  the  crews  of  the  twelve 
fugitive  galleys  escaped.  Among  the  prisoners 
were  Admiral  Dandolo,  who  dashed  out  his  brains 
rather  than  rot  in  a  Genoese  dungeon,  and  Marco 
Polo,  who  spent  his  captivity  writing  his  travels. 
Doria's  victory  was  complete,  but  so  great  were  his 
own  losses  that  he  could  not  follow  it  up. 

The  contrast  between  the  two  republics  was  never 
more  evident.  Although  Venice  was  distracted  by 
the  constitutional  crisis  which  resulted  in  the  Clos- 
ing of  the  Great  Council,  she  hardly  vibrated  at  one 
of  the  worst  defeats  in  her  history,  and  within  a  few 
weeks  she  was  preparing  a  new  armament.  Genoa, 
on  the  other  hand,  though  victorious  in  battle,  was 
convulsed  by  a  political  upheaval  which  made  her 
ready  to  accept  Visconti's  offer  to  arbitrate.  Before 
peace  came,  Schiavo,  a  daring  Venetian  privateer, 
sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Genoa,  planted  the  banner 
of  St.  Mark  on  one  of  the  quays,  struck  a  coin  there 
to  commemorate  his  sauciness,  and  sailed  out  again 
unimjjeded.  The  peace,  signed  on  May  25,  1299, 
was  to  be  perpetual,  and  both  parties  to  it  acted  in 
apparent  sincerity. 

Within  a  few  years,  however,  bickerings  in  the 


VII     THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA     139 

East  began  anew.  Genoese  pirates  waylaid  Vene- 
tian merchantmen ;  reprisals  followed,  Galata  was 
destroyed,  and  Genoa  was  forced  to  pay  an  indem- 
nity (1313).  Thirty  years  later  jealousy  over  the 
trade  of  the  Crimea  and  Black  Sea,  which  the  two 
powers  had  agreed  to  share,  grew  acute,  and  war 
was  declared  as  soon  as  they  had  a  little  recovered 
from  the  ravages  of  the  Great  Plague  (1348).  The 
first  campaign  resulted  in  a  fierce  encounter  at 
Negropont  between  Ruzzini  and  the  Genoese  admi- 
ral, in  which  the  latter  escaped  with  part  of  his 
fleet,  only  to  return  with  reinforcements  and  capture 
Negropont,  after  Ruzzini  had  taken  his  prizes  home 
(1350).  Venice  now  formed  with  the  King  of  Ara- 
gon  and  John  Cantacuzenos,  the  Greek  Emperor,  a 
league  by  which  they  agreed  to  equip  squadrons 
for  which  Venice  should  pay  in  part.  The  obvious 
strategy  was  for  the  Aragonese  to  attack  Genoa; 
but  instead  of  this  they  joined  Niccolo  Pisani,  the 
Venetian  commander,  and  went  in  search  of  the 
Genoese  under  Paganino  Doria,  who  awaited  them 
on  the  Asiatic  shore  opposite  Constantinople.  When 
the  allies  entered  the  Golden  Horn,  where  the  Greek 
contingent  joined  them,  Pisani  advised  postponing 
their  attack  till  the  next  morning ;  for  it  was  already 
the  late  afternoon  of  a  Eebruary  day,  the  weather 
was  bad,  and  the  current  swept  with  unusual  vio- 
lence through  the  straits.  But  the  Aragonese  ad- 
miral, Santa  Paola,  would  not  listen  to  a  delay. 
The  allies  delivered  their  attack  at  a  disadvantage ; 
the  Greek  contingent  absconded  as  soon  as  they 


140  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

got  within  striking  distance ;  the  Catalans  held  on 
longer,  but  they  proved  inferior,  and  the  Venetians 
had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  battle.  Night  had 
fallen,  and  in  the  dark  it  was  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish friend  from  foe.  At  last  the  Venetians 
withdrew,  worsted  but  not  routed,  for  Doria  had 
suffered  too  much  to  dare  to  pursue  them  (February 
13,  1352-3). 

This  battle  of  the  Bosphorus  merely  stimulated 
both  republics  to  fiercer  efforts.  Venice  continued 
her  subsidy  to  the  Catalans,  who  cooperated  with 
Pisani  on  the  coast  of  Sardinia.  On  August  29, 
1353,  the  Genoese,  under  Grimaldi,  unmasked  the 
Catalan  contingent  off  Lojera,  and  was  astonished 
to  find  the  entire  Venetian  fleet  accompanying  it. 
Pisani  made  for  the  open  sea,  then  turned  and  bore 
down  on  the  enemy.  The  Genoese  fought  desper- 
ately;  but  when  •  -rimaldi  saw  that  he  was  losing, 
he  had  his  galley  towed  out  of  the  battle,  and  fled 
to  Genoa.  Only  eighteen  of  his  fifty-one  galleys 
escaped  destruction  or  capture. 

The  news  of  the  disaster  at  Lojera  threw  the 
Genoese  into  consternation.  That  mercurial  people, 
which  had  risen  so  often  after  previous  calamities, 
fell  into  a  panic  in  which  it  imagined  that  nothing 
could  save  it  from  being  conquered  by  the  Vene- 
tians, except  the  protection  of  Giovanni  Visconti, 
the  most  powerful  of  the  northern  despots.  Un- 
nerved by  terror,  the  free  Republic  of  Genoa  offered 
its  independence  to  the  Lord  of  Milan,  who  eagerly 
accepted  it  (October,  1353). 


VII  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  141 

The  Genoese  were  too  intent  on  vengeance  to  feel 
ashamed  of  their  national  cowardice.  But  Visconti 
had  not  their  ancestral  hatred  to  goad  him  blindly 
against  Venice,  and  before  making  war  he  sent 
Petrarch  thither  on  a  peaceful  mission.  Venice 
declined  the  overtures.  A  new  Genoese  fleet  was 
already  in  the  Adriatic,  and  for  six  or  seven  months 
it  was  hide-and-seek,  with  occasional  skirmishes, 
between  the  old  antagonists,  Paganino  Doria  and 
Niccolo  Pisani.  Once  Doria  sacked  the  town  of 
Parenzo  within  half  a  day's  sail  of  Venice,  and  once 
he  prudently  declined  battle.  Late  in  the  season, 
Pisani  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Portolungo, 
opposite  the  island  of  Sapienza,  not  far  from  Nava- 
rino.  Having  stationed  Querini  with  twenty  gal- 
leys to  guard  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  he  docked 
or  dismantled  the  rest  of  his  ships.  Doria,  hearing 
that  the  guard  was  slack,  came  pon  Querini  un- 
awares, broke  into  the  harbor,  and  utterly  routed 
the  Venetians  (November  4,  1354).  Pisani  and  a 
remnant  of  his  force  escaped  overland  to  Modon 
and  thence  home,  where  he  and  Querini  were  im- 
peached as  a  sop  to  popular  fury. 

Of  all  her  naval  defeats  that  of  Sapienza  (or  Porto- 
lungo) stung  Venice  most  bitterly.  At  the  time,  it 
seemed  the  harbinger  of  a  complete  overthrow ;  but 
far  from  losing  heart,  she  set  about  hiring  merce- 
naries and  creating  another  navy.  Fortunately^ 
Doria  had  to  lie  by  for  the  winter,  and  before  war 
was  resumed  in  the  spring  a  peace  was  declared, 
the  terms  of  which  were  so  favorable   to  Venice 


142  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

that  we  surmise  that  ^«5noa,  in  spite  of  her  great 
victory,  did  not  feel  se*       '{June  1,  1355). 

In  comparison  with  modern  naval  campaigns 
these  which  we  have  so  rapidly  surveyed  are  re- 
markable for  their  duration  and  their  intensity,  ^d 
for  their  gigantic  scale.  England  has  never  Jl 
any  naval  equipment  proportionate  to  the  45,000 
men  and  195  ships  which  sailed  under  Uberto  Doria 
in  1295;  at  that  time  the  total  population  of  the 
Genoese  Republic  probably  did  not  exceed  a  third 
of  a  million.  In  1329  the  conscription  at  Venice 
for  the  war  against  Delia  Scala  showed  40,000  men 
between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  sixty,  which  would 
imply  about  200,000  inhabitants  in  the  whole  city, 
and  perhaps  half  as  many  more  in  the  Dogado.  If 
each  republic  lost  from  a  third  to  a  half  of  its 
people  in  the  Great  Plague  of  1348,  —  some  authori- 
ties reckon  as  high  as  two  thirds,  —  the  fleet  which 
each  sent  into  action  in  1350  represents  prodigious 
energy.  At  Lojera,  the  Genoese  lost  33  of  their  51 
galleys,  and  their  loss  in  men  exceeded  that  in  any 
modern  sea  fight.  At  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  Nelson 
had  10  ships  and  the  French  had  13 ;  Nelson  lost 
about  1500  in  killed  and  wounded ;  the  French  lost 
probably  7000  men,  and  11  of  their  ships  were 
either  destroyed  or  captured..  One  of  Pisani's 
galleys  represented  relatively  as  much  fighting 
power  as  one  of  Nelson's  three-deckers ;  for  Pisani 
had  of  course  no  cannon,  and  he  had  to  depend 
chiefly  on  rowing  instead  of  sailing.  Consequently, 
where  the  modern  man-of-war  or  battle-ship  carries 


J 


VII     THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA     143 

a  comparatively  small  crew  and  only  a  small  force 
of  gunners  and  navig?'  the  galley  required  a 
large  number  of  oarsmen  (usually  convicts  or  cap- 
tives) and  a  troop  of  soldiers — archers,  swordsmen, 
h'''bardiers  —  to  light  at  close  quarters,  as  if  on 
".  The  average  complement  of  a  war  galley 
was  180  rowers  and  120  officers,  soldiers,  marines, 
and  servants.  When  we  consider  the  means  at 
their  command,  the  immense  distances  covered  by 
the  Italian  fleets  are  even  more  remarkable  than 
Nelson's  famous  pursuit  of  the  French  from  Corsica 
to  the  West  Indies  and  back  to  Aboukir  Bay. 
More  than  one  Venetian  cruise  reached  from  Venice 
to  the  Genoese  Eiviera,  thence  to  Candia,  Negro- 
pont,  Constantinople,  and  Syria,  and  homeward  by 
way  of  Modon  and  the  Dalmatian  ports,  a  distance 
of  4000  or  5000  miles.  Think  what  it  meant  to  be 
a  galley  slave ! 

The  peace  between  Venice  and  Genoa  lasted 
nearly  twenty-five  years.  It  ended  in  the  culmi- 
nation of  several  antagonisms.  In  the  first  place, 
the  presence  of  the  Venetians  on  Terra  Firma  had 
become  rasping  to  her  neighbors.  The  Carraresi,  at 
Padua,  who  were  to  serve  as  a  screen  between  her 
and  the  Scaligers,  had  now  grown  to  be  great  des- 
pots themselves,  eager  to  extend  their  Paduan  state 
at  the  expense  of  the  Eepublic.  The  Duke  of  Aus- 
tria coveted  the  rich  plains  to  the  south  of  the 
Alpine  passes  which  he  controlled.  The  Patriarch 
of  Aquileia  nursed  an  immemorial  grievance  against 
the  Republic,  which  had  shorn  him  of  his  ecclesi- 


144  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

astical  primacy  and  was  reaping  most  of  his  com- 
merce. The  King  of  Hungary,  a  competitor  for  the 
Venetian  possessions  on  the  eastern  Adriatic,  had 
designs  on  the  Marches  of  Ancona,  and  saw  his 
profit  in  aiding  any  attempt  that  might  weaken 
Venice.  In  the  Orient  there  were  the  old  motives 
for  a  quarrel  with  Genoa,  and  there  was  recent 
irritation.  The  Venetians  had  coerced  the  Greek 
Emperor  into  ceding  the  island  of  Tenedos  to  them. 
The  Genoese,  having  vainly  protested,  deposed  the 
Emperor  and  enthroned  his  son ;  but  the  Venetians 
would  not  give  up  the  island,  which  commands  the 
western  entrance  to  the  Dardanelles.  So  Genoa 
declared  war,  and  easily  persuaded  the  Lord  of 
Padua,  the  King  of  Hungary,  the  Duke  of  Austria, 
and  the  Patriarch  of  Aquileia  to  join  a  coalition  for 
crushing  Venice.  Never  before,  since  she  rose  to 
greatness,  had  the  Kepublic  been  so  imperiled. 

Although  her  only  ally  was  Bernabo  Visconti, 
who  proved  less  helpful  than  she  expected,  she 
took  up  the  challenge  proudly.  At  this  crisis 
she  had  as  Doge  Andrea  Contarini,  a  wise,  resolute, 
and  popular  old  man,  ripe  in  experience,  and  so 
modest  that  he  thrice  refused  the  ducal  crown, 
until  the  Senate  threatened  to  banish  him  unless 
he  accepted  it.  For  commander  of  the  fleet,  Vettor 
Pisani  was  chosen,  the  most  illustrious  of  all  the 
great  sea  fighters  to  whom  the  gonfalon  of  St.  Mark 
was  intrusted.  He  was  the  son  of  Niccolo  Pisani, 
under  whom  he  had  served  at  Portolungo,  and  he 
had  been  Captain  of  the  Gulf,  that  officer  whose 


VII  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  145 

duty  it  was  to  patrol  the  northern  Adriatic.  He. 
was  now  fifty-five  years  old,  hot-tempered,  noble- 
hearted,  master  of  the  art  of  naval  warfare,  a  pas- 
sionately devoted  son  of  Mother  Venice.  Scarcely 
less  remarkable  than  these  was  Carlo  Zeno,  whose 
life  had  been  a  series  of  romantic  exploits,  who 
loved  danger  as  the  Swiss  loves  mountain  air,  and 
who  nevertheless  had  in  him,  like  his  Elizabethan 
aftercomers,  —  Kaleigh,  Hawkins,  Drake,  —  the  stuff 
which  differentiates  great  captains  from  mere  dare- 
devil adventurers. 

In  April,  1378,  Pisani,  having  received  the  ban- 
ner from  the  Doge,  and  a  blessing  from  the  Arch- 
bishop, set  sail  with  a  vanguard  of  fourteen  galleys, 
and  on  May  30  he  encountered  the  Genoese  admiral, 
Luigi  de'  Eieschi,  at  Capo  d'  Anzio,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Tiber.  After  a  sharp  battle  he  captured 
rieschi  and  five  galleys ;  but  as  his  squadron  was 
too  weak  to  warrant  a  descent  on  Genoa,  he  re- 
turned to  the  Adriatic  and  chastised  several  rebel- 
lious cities  along  the  eastern  coast.  The  Genoese 
populace,  enraged  by  their  first  defeat,  rushed  to 
the  Ducal  Palace,  deposed  Doge  Campofregoso,  and 
set  up  Doge  Guarco  in  his  stead.  Yet  the  local 
turbulence  did  not  long  interrupt  the  Genoese  cam- 
paign ;  so  that  before  winter  they  had  a  formidable 
fleet  in  commission.  Pisani,  by  order  of  the  Senate, 
which  overruled  his  advice,  spent  the  winter  at 
Pola. 

When  spring  came,  the  Senate  persisted  in  for- 
bidding  him   to  return,  although   his   crews  were 


146  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

much  reduced  by  disease  and  his  ships  required 
overhauling.  On  May  7,  1379,  the  Genoese  fleet  of 
twenty-three  galleys  and  two  galleons,  commanded 
by  Luciano  Doria,  appeared  off  Pola.  Pisani  held 
a  council  of  war,  at  which  he  urged  that  in  their 
condition  they  should  avoid  a  battle ;  but  the  pro- 
ved itors,  whom  the  Senate  sent  to  oversee  the  naval 
operations,  construed  prudence  as  cowardice,  un- 
worthy and  un- Venetian,  and  he  yielded  to  their 
clamor.  "Very  well,"  he  said;  "let  whoever  loves 
St.  Mark  follow  me ! "  and  he  led  them  straight  at 
the  foe.  But  neither  his  courage  nor  a  momentary 
success  availed.  The  Genoese  feigned  a  retreat: 
the  Venetians  pursued  pell-mell;  and  then  the 
Genoese  wheeled  round  and  routed  them.  Pisani 
himself  barely  escaped  with  six  galleys  to  Parenzo. 
A  month  later  he  was  taken  manacled  to  Venice 
and  condemned  to  six  months'  imprisonment,  and 
was  deprived  of  the  power  of  holding  office  for  five 
years,  to  punish  him  "  for  not  taking  due  precau- 
tions at  Pola." 

Such  dismay  as  shook  Venice  that  summer  sur- 
passed the  days  of  the  Great  Plague  or  of  Sapienza. 
But  the  venerable  Contarini  did  not  lose  heart,  and 
the  government  prepared  to  defend  the  capital. 
Fortifications  were  thrown  up  on  the  Udi  ;  ships 
laden  with  stones  were  sunk  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Lido  port;  every  citizen  capable  of  bearing  arms 
was  mustered  into  a  volunteer  corps ;  a  committee 
of  public  safety  sat  permanently  in  the  Ducal 
Palace ;  lookouts  watched  in  the  campanili  to  give 


VII  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  147 

notice  of  the  first  strange  sails  along  the  southern 
horizon.  Another  Doria,  Pietro,  had  entered  the 
Adriatic  with  reinforcements,  and  having  joined 
the  fleet  victorious  at  Pol  a,  he  was  reconquering  the 
Dalmatian  and  Istrian  cities  taken  by  Pisani  the 
previous  year.  He  came  up  the  coast  deliber- 
ately, and  although  only  meagre  news,  or  none,  of 
his  progress  reached  the  Venetians,  they  knew 
every  night  that  he  was  a  stage  nearer  than  in 
the  morning.  The  suspense  became  fearful.  At 
what  point  would  he  strike?  And  all  the  while 
the  Venetian  campaign  on  the  mainland  grew  worse 
and  worse.  The  allies  took  the  unfortified  towns, 
ravaged  the  country,  and  besieged  the  cities.  When 
the  Venetians  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Hungarian 
king,  he  proposed  terms  so  dishonorable  that  Venice, 
although  driven  to  bay,  rejected  them. 

At  last,  Doria,  with  forty-seven  Genoese  ships, 
appeared  off  the  coast.  On  August  6  he  attempted 
to  capture  Malamocco,  but  being  repulsed  he 
burned  Pelestrina,  seized  Little  Chioggia,  and  pro- 
ceded  to  attack  Chioggia  itself.  Pietro  Emo,  the 
podesth,  held  out  bravely  with  three  thousand  men, 
but  on  August  16  the  Genoese,  having  gained  the 
bridge  which  led  into  the  town,  pursued  the  Vene- 
tian garrison  into  their  quarters  and  compelled 
them  to  surrender.  Venice  was  now  hemmed  in, 
for  Doria's  galleys  could  at  will  sail  out  and  guard 
the  coast,  while  the  allies  on  land  drew  their 
cordon  to  the  edge  of  the  Lagoon. 

That  evening  the  news  reached  Venice,  and  the 


148  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

tolling  of  the  great  bell  of  St.  Mark's  warned  the 
people  of  the  capital  and  the  neighboring  islands 
of  the  disaster.  The  next  day  the  Signory  chose 
Taddeo  Giustiniani  as  captain-general ;  but  the 
populace  refused  to  serve  under  him,  and  clamored 
for  Pisani.  The  Signory  reluctantly  gave  in, 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  18th  a  delegation  of 
senators  went  to  his  prison  to  release  him.  He 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  spend  that  night  in  prayer 
and  contemplation.  At  daybreak  on  the  morrow 
the  senators  and  a  large  crowd  of  the  people  re- 
turned to  his  dungeon.  As  soon  as  the  door  was 
unlocked,  the  people  lifted  him  to  their  shoulders 
and  carried  him  triumphantly  to  the  Palace.  When 
they  shouted,  "Long  live  our  Vettor  Pisani!"  he 
bade  them  shout  instead,  "  Long  live  St.  Mark ! " 
The  Doge  and  senators  received  him  graciously, 
acknowledging  by  their  manner,  if  not  by  words, 
that  they  had  made  a  mistake  which  their  love  for 
Venice  did  not  let  them  persist  in,  and  Pisani 
showed  neither  resentment  nor  arrogance,  Venice 
must  be  saved,  and  all  her  sons  must  unite  to  save 
her.  The  annals  of  patriotism  record  nothing 
nobler  than  his  magnanimity.  Patriots  always 
have  been  willing  to  die  for  their  country ;  Vettor 
Pisani  consented  to  live  and  work  for  Venice  under 
a  government  which  had  forced  him  to  act  against 
his  judgment,  and  had  then  punished  him  for  the 
ensuing  failure. 

His  generosity  was  without  reserve.     He  silenced 
the  populace  which  began  to  suggest  that  he  should 


VII  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH   GENOA  149 

become  dictator.  Under  his  electric  guidance  all 
went  swiftly.  To  Taddeo  Giustiniani,  his  jealous 
rival,  he  assigned  the  command  of  three  galleys. 
He  substituted  stone  for  wooden  forts  at  the  Lido, 
organized  the  volunteers,  built  stone  walls  from  the 
Lido  to  Santo  Spirito,  created  a  large  mosquito  fleet 
of  flat-bottomed  boats,  and  set  a  host  to  equip  the 
half-finished  ships  at  the  Arsenal.  In  three  days 
the  galleys  were  seaworthy  ;  within  a  week  the 
preparations  to  defend  the  city  were  complete. 
Passionate  resolve  supplanted  consternation. 

Such  speed  was  indispensable,  for  Doria,  having 
let  slip  the  chance  to  move  on  Venice  immediately 
after  taking  Chioggia  on  August  16,  threw  a  large 
force  on  the  island  of  Malamocco,  and  on  August 
24,  in  concert  with  Carrara's  troops,  he  attacked  the 
Venetian  outposts  near  S.  Niccolo  and  on  the  islets 
of  Santo  Spirito  and  Santa  Maria.  But  he  failed 
to  dislodge  Pisani's  troops,  and  having  convinced 
himself  that  the  city  could  not  be  stormed,  he  with- 
drew in  October  to  Chioggia  to  establish  a  blockade. 

The  Venetians  quickly  measured  the  ordeal  before 
them,  the  sternest  ordeal  by  which  a  community  can 
be  tried,  and  they  met  it  with  the  collective  courage 
which  does  not  flinch  at  the  slow,  unremitting  tor- 
ments of  starvation.  In  the  early  weeks  their  shal- 
low boats  surprised  three  of  the  Genoese  ships,  but 
this  exploit,  though  cheering  at  the  moment,  had  no 
significance.  Week  by  week  the  blockade  tight- 
ened. Provisions  grew  scarce,  and  no  replenishing 
from  the  outside  was  to  be  hoped  for.     Distress 


150  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

made  all  classes  kin.  "  If  you  have  no  food,"  said 
Pietro  Mocenigo,  in  the  Doge's  behalf  to  the  multi- 
tude, "  go  to  the  houses  of  the  patricians,  who  will 
share  their  last  crust  with  you."  All  business  was 
suspended,  because  the  only  business  possible  was  to 
keep  alive,  and  to  repel  the  Genoese.  Rich  and 
poor  gave  out  of  their  means  to  the  public  purse. 
A  forced  loan  at  five  per  cent,  produced  6,294,040 
lire.  Women  offered  their  silver,  their  jewelry,  their 
precious  stones,  even  the  clasps  of  their  belts.  And 
as  a  further  incentive,  the  Signory  decreed  that 
when  the  war  was  finished,  the  thirty  families 
which  contributed  most  should  be  admitted  to  the 
Great  Council ;  that  five  thousand  ducats  a  year 
should  be  divided  among  the  most  patriotic  of  the 
poor;  and  that  foreigners  who  gave  the  greatest 
aid  should  be  eligible  to  citizenship. 

Still,  day  by  day,  and  week  by  week,  the  horrors 
of  the  blockade  increased.  Doria  down  at  Chioggia 
and  Carrara  on  the  mainland,  simply  by  sitting 
motionless,  were  wearing  out  their  prey.  Visconti, 
the  Republic's  sole  ally,  created  no  diversion.  The 
whole  world  through,  the  famishing  Venetians  had 
but  one  hope,  —  fast  slipping  away,  —  that  Carlo 
Zeno,  who  had  gone  on  a  roving  commission  more 
than  a  year  ago,  would  return  and  break  the  block- 
ade. But  where  was  Zeno?  For  many  months 
they  had  heard  nothing  from  him.  The  messages 
they  sent  could  never  have  reached  him  ;  and  either 
he  did  not  know  of  their  desperate  situation,  or  he 
and  his  fleet  had  been  captured. 


vn  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  151 

Chioggia  had  fallen  in  August;  December  was 
now  well  advanced,  and  with  December,  keener 
distress.  Yet  through  all  these  fearful  months  we 
are  conscious  that  one  presence,  like  Washington's 
at  Valley  Forge,  has  diffused  its  courage  among 
high  and  low,  rousing  the  half-hearted,  maintaining 
discipline,  shaming  the  selfish,  silencing  the  least 
whisper  of  surrender.  Vettor  Pisani  tolerated  no 
cowardice,  but  he  knew  as  well  as  the  most  craven 
that  the  city  was  doomed,  unless  it  could  help  itself, 
or  Zeno's  fleet  should  come.  Zeno  might  be  too 
late;  Pisani  therefore  planned  for  Venice  to  save 
herself  by  blockading  the  Genoese  blockaders. 
Since  the  Spartans  turned  the  tables  on  the  Athe- 
nians at  Syracuse,  no  similar  stroke  of  military 
genius  had  been  recorded. 

The  Venetian  Lagoon,  it  will  be  remembered,  is 
hemmed  in  on  the  south  by  several  long  sand  isl- 
ands, or  lidi.  On  Sottomarina,  the  southwestern- 
most  of  these,  separated  from  the  low  mainland  by 
only  a  narrow  channel,  is  the  town  of  Brondolo; 
between  Sottomarina  and  the  lido  of  Pelestrina,  the 
next  to  the  east,  the  port  of  Chioggia  opens  to  the 
sea.  Chioggia  itself  and  Little  Chioggia  lie  on 
tiny  islands  only  a  few  furlongs  to  the  north  of 
Sottomarina.  From  Chioggia  to  Venice,  a  distance 
of  fifteen  miles,  the  Lombard  Canal,  skirting  the 
inner  margin  of  the  lidi,  alone  offers  passage  to 
ships  of  any  draught. 

From  their  post  at  Chioggia,  therefore,  the  Gen- 
oese  stopped    all   access   to   Venice    through    the 


152  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

canal,  and  as  their  ships  also  patrolled  the  coast, 
they  prevented  j^assage  through  the  Malamocco  and 
the  Lido  ports.  Pisani's  masterly  plan  was,  by 
closing  the  Lombard  Canal  and  the  ports  of  Bron- 
dolo  and  Chioggia,  to  lock  up  the  Genoese  fleet  in 
the  Chioggian  waters.  He  laid  his  plan  before  the 
Signory,  which  approved  it.  Thirty-four  galleys 
were  equipped,  and  at  eight  in  the  evening  of 
December  22  they  left  the  capital.  Before  mid- 
night they  reached  without  resistance  the  Chioggia 
port. 

As  soon  as  it  was  light,  December  23,  Pisani  landed 
forty-eight  hundred  men  on  the  eastern  end  of  Sotto- 
marina  in  the  hope  of  fortifying  them  there ;  but  a 
large  force  of  Genoese  drove  them  back  with  loss  to 
their  ships.  Pisani  achieved  his  purpose,  however, 
for  whilst  these  troops  were  battling  on  shore,  he 
was  sinking  two  great  barges  in  the  port  of  Chioggia, 
and  heaping  stones  upon  them;  so  that  within  a 
few  hours  he  had  effectually  sealed  that  exit.  The 
following  day,  he  sank  more  barges  in  the  Brondolo 
channel  and  closed  that;  and  on  Christmas  he  barred 
the  Lombard  Canal.  These  operations,  though 
executed  swiftly,  cost  heavily.  The  crews  worked 
waist-high  in  the  water  for  many  hours  in  the  win- 
try weather,  and  all  the  while  the  Genoese  by  land 
and  water  kept  up  a  terrific  fight.  The  weather 
was  cold,  supplies  were  scanty.  After  a  week  of 
these  hardships  and  dangers,  Pisani's  men,  of  whom 
not  a  few  were  mercenaries,  unused  to  a  war  to  the 
death,  began  to  clamor  for  a  respite.     Pisani  ex- 


VII  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  153 

horted,  commanded,  threatened ;  but  human  nature 
was  visibly  giving  out.  Venerable  Doge  Contarini, 
who  had  accompanied  the  expedition,  declared  that 
he  would  never  return  to  Venice  until  Chioggia  was 
recaptured.  Still,  his  example  failed  to  revive  the 
exhausted  crews,  and  at  length  Pisani  promised 
that,  if  Carlo  Zeno's  long-expected  fleet  did  not 
appear  by  nightfall  on  January  1,  he  would  aban- 
don the  blockade.  It  was  the  hero's  last  resort : 
like  Columbus,  he  staked  all  on  the  frailest  hope. 

December  30  passed  amid  suspense,  which  grew 
more  fearful  on  December  31,  as  hour  dragged  on 
after  hour  without  bringing  any  sign.  On  New 
Year's  Day,  the  lookouts  were  as  usual  at  the  mast- 
heads, but  the  forenoon  wore  away,  and  they  reported 
nothing.  Suddenly,  one,  sharper-eyed  than  his  fel- 
lows, shouted,  "  A  sail  to  eastward  !  "  and  very  soon, 
''  More  sails  ! "  and  next  the  crews  and  officers  from 
the  decks  could  descry  a  fleet  pricking  above  the 
horizon.  Thare  were  wild  shouts,  "  Zeno !  Vic- 
tory ! "  And  then,  renewed  suspense  and  silence, 
as  they  remembered  that  a  Genoese  fleet  was  on  its 
way  to  reinforce  Doria :  what  if  this  were  it  ? 
This  doubt  agonized  them  until  the  ship  that  led 
the  van  had  come  near  enough  for  them  to  see  its 
banner  —  the  Lion  of  St.  Mark,  not  the  standard 
of  St.  George !  The  great  cheers  broke  out  afresh ; 
Venice  was  saved. 

Saved  for  the  moment,  at  least ;  for  even  with 
Zeno's  cooperation'  the  task  to  be  accomplished  was 
stupendous.     During  his    year's   cruise   Zeno   had 


154  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

destroyed  some  seventy  Genoese  ships,  and  damaged 
much  Genoese  seaboard ;  but  he  had  not  met  the  new- 
fleet  with  reinforcements.  As  he  insisted  on  filling 
the  place  of  greatest  danger,  he  was  stationed  at  Bron- 
dolo.  Pisani's  galleys  anchored  offshore  to  inter- 
cept blockade-runners  —  an  uncertain  berth,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  wintry  gales.  In  one  tempest  Zeno's 
cables  parted,  and  he  recovered  his  position  only 
with  great  difficulty.  The  mercenaries,  habitually 
grumbling,  at  last  mutinied,  and  could  be  appeased 
only  with  the  promise  of  plundering  Chioggia  when 
it  fell.  But  in  spite  of  such  hindrances,  the  Vene- 
tian blockade  began  to  tell  on  the  Genoese;  and 
when,  on  February  13,  Zeno  stormed  and  took  Bron- 
dolo,  using  two  huge  wooden  mortars,  which  threw 
stone  balls  weighing  one  hundred  and  forty-five  and 
one  hundred  and  ninety -five  pounds,  the  army  belea- 
guered in  Chioggia  saw  its  doom  approaching.  For 
it  had  depended  on  receiving  supplies  from  the  Pad- 
uans  by  way  of  Brondolo,  and  henceforth  whatever 
came  must  be  smuggled  through  in  small  boats.  The 
vigilance  of  the  blockaders  soon  cut  off'  this  resource, 
and  while  they  themselves  and  Venice  were  once 
more  properly  fed,  the  Genoese  took  their  turn  at 
famine,  bearing  it  with  equal  fortitude,  and  longing 
with  equal  suspense  for  their  fleet  of  rescuers. 

Grimaldi,  who  now  commanded  there,  Pietro 
Doria  having  been  killed,  dug  a  canal  across  a  nar- 
row part  of  Sottomarina,  to  try  if  perchance  he 
might  break  through;  but  Pisani  thwarted  him. 
Then  he  tore  down  wooden  houses  and  made  flat- 


VII  THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA  155 

boats  on  which  his  troops  might  escape  across  the 
Lagoon ;  but  Zeno  headed  him  off  and  dashed  that 
hope.  Pisani  could  not  be  induced  to  order  a  gen- 
eral assault  on  Chioggia,  although  his  men  and  offi- 
cers chafed  at  the  tedious  delays;  he  knew  that 
with  patience  victory  was  sure,  and  he  would  take 
no  risk.  At  last  the  dreaded  Genoese  fleet,  under 
Maruffo,  appeared  off  Venice  on  May  14,  but -again 
Pisani  preferred  prudence  to  the  uncertainty  of  a 
battle,  and  Maruffo,  unable  to  entice  him  into  the 
open,  did  not  dare  to  go  in  and  attack  him.  Almost 
simultaneously  another  Genoese  commander,  Spi- 
nola,  who  had  hurried  overland  to  throw  a  relief 
party  into  Chioggia,  was  frustrated.  Hot  weather 
had  set  in,  and  the  besieged  Genoese  died  in  great 
numbers.  Grimaldi  was  unsuccessful  in  arranging 
a  joint  movement  with  Carrara.  Equally  vain 
proved  his  attempt  to  bribe  Pisani's  mercenaries 
to  desert.  He  had  tried  every  expedient  that  cour- 
age or  craft  or  desperation  could  suggest.  And 
now  there  was  no  more  food ;  the  drinking  water 
had  been  drunk  up  to  the  dregs.  Brave  Grimaldi 
at  last  surrendered,  having  endured  a  twenty-five 
weeks'  siege  (June  24).  Of  the  great  armament 
which  a  year  before  embodied  the  pride  and  power 
of  Genoa,  and  threatened  the  very  life  of  Venice, 
only  4170  Genoese  troops,  with  200  of  Carrara's 
auxiliaries  and  17  galleys,  remained.  So  famished 
were  the  prisoners  that  many  of  them  died  after  de- 
vouring their  first  meal ;  those  who  survived  were 
humanely  cared  for  at  Venice. 


156  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Before  pressing  on  to  complete  their  task,  the 
Venetians  gave  themselves  up  to  a  festival  of  re- 
joicing. Doge  Contarini  returned  in  the  Bucentaur 
to  the  city  which  owed  so  much  to  his  fortitude. 
St.  Mark's  witnessed  a  solemn  thanksgiving  for  the 
national  salvation. 

In  July,  Pisani  set  out  to  sink  the  Genoese  fleet 
under  Maruffo,  who  had  been  abetting  a  revolt  in 
Istria.  Maruffo  seems  to  have  had  warning  of  his 
approach,  for  he  divided  his  force  and  adopted 
Parthian  tactics.  At  Zara,  Pisani  learned  that 
twelve  Genoese  galleys  were  loading  with  corn  at 
Manfredonia.  He  hurried  across  the  Adriatic  with 
part  of  his  ships,  and  overtaking  the  foe  toward 
evening  on  August  12  he  attacked  vehemently ;  but 
the  Genoese  held  out  till  dark,'  and  then  escaped. 
Pisani  himself  died  the  next  day  (August  13,  1380) 
at  Manfredonia  from  an  acute  fever,  which  had 
stricken  him  before  he  left  Zara.  Ten  days  later 
all  Venice  followed  his  bier  to  the  Church  of  St. 
Anthony,  where  he  was  buried.  Universal  grief, 
such  as  a  nation  seldom  experiences  more  than  once 
or  twice  in  its  history,  was  poured  out  for  Pisani, 
and  with,  reason ;  for  his  patriotism  shone  from  first 
to  last  without  a  stain,  and  his  genius  rescued  his 
country  from  extinction  in  the  most  terrible  crisis 
she  ever  knew.  Had  Genoa  conquered,  there  would 
never  have  been  the  Venice  which  we  love.  Of  all 
the  splendid  buildings  —  the  churches,  the  palaces, 
the  schools,  the  bell  towers,  the  domes  and  quays, 
the  bridges  and  magazines  —  which  we  see  to-day, 


VII     THE  DEATH  GRAPPLE  WITH  GENOA     157 

only  St.  Mark's  Basilica  and  a  few  palaces  date 
practically  unchanged  from  before  the  Chioggian 
War.  If  Genoa  had  won,  the  City  of  the  Lagoons, 
reduced  to  insignificance  by  her  remorseless  rival, 
would  have  moldered  like  Adria  or  Aquileia,  be- 
yond the  world's  concern.  Never  forget,  you  who 
look  on  the  magic  architecture  and  the  matchless 
paintings,  that  but  for  Yettor  Pisani  the  nation 
which  was  to  create  them  might  have  been 
destroyed. 

Carlo  Zeno  succeeded  Pisani  as  captain-general, 
but  the  Genoese  persisted  in  avoiding  a  set  battle 
and  gave  little  further  trouble  by  sea.  On  land, 
however,  the  war  continued  so  unfavorably  to  Ven- 
ice that,  rather  than  have  Treviso  wrested  from  her 
by  Carrara,  she  ceded  it  to  the  Duke  of  Austria, 
and  so  detached  him  from  the  coalition  (May  2, 
1381).  Deprived  of  this  spoil,  Carrara  was  ready 
to  make  peace,  which  was  arbitrated  by  Amadeus 
VI,  the  Green  Count  of  Savoy,  and  signed  at  Turin 
August  8,  1381.  Venice  had  to  sacrifice  Trieste 
and  Tenedos,  which  she  transferred  to  the  Dukes 
of  Austria  and  Savoy  respectively ;  she  renounced 
her  claim  to  Dalmatia ;  she  paid  the  King  of  Hun- 
gary an  annual  sum  for  consenting  to  stop  manu- 
facturing salt  and  countenancing  privateers  ;  but  she 
recovered  her  commercial  privileges  on  Terra  Firma 
and  at  Constantinople.  If  these  terms  did  not  give 
her  the  lion's  share,  they  gave  at  least  as  much  as  a 
state  which  had  so  recently  been  on  the  verge  of 
annihilation  could  expect.     They  left  her  what  was 


158  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE       chap,  vii 

indispensable  to  her  existence;  having  that,  she 
needed  not  repine. 

This  was  the  last  great  war  waged  between 
Venice  and  Genoa.  They  continued  to  be  competi- 
tors in  Oriental  commerce ;  but  time  soon  showed 
that  the  Chioggian  expedition  had  exhausted  Genoa. 
Her  internal  feuds  raged  afresh,  and  after  making 
and  unmaking  ten  doges  in  four  years,  she  threw 
herself  upon  France  and  sacrificed  her  independ- 
ence. She  was  the  medieval  prototype  of  revo- 
lutionary Paris,  —  stormy,  unsteady,  capable  of 
amazing  efforts,  passionate  to  the  verge  of  frenzy, 
and  yet  never  so  truly  content  as  when  tyrannized 
over  by  a  despot.  Venice,  with  her  self-control, 
her  slowly  matured  government,  her  habit  of  tak- 
ing long  views,  her  solidarity  of  aims  and  interests, 
was  the  opposite  of  all  this.  And  Venice  won; 
but  at  what  a  sacrifice  !  While  the  two  Italian 
republics  wore  themselves  out  in  mutual  combat, 
the  Turk  was  encroaching  on  Christendom,  Italy 
was  being  hopelessly  torn  by  factions,  new  powers 
beyond  the  Alps  were  slowly  growing  up  to  rule 
the  next  epoch,  in  which  the  great  tides  of  human 
progress  should  sweep  over  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
instead  of  through  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS,   1423 

The  crippling  of  Genoa  assured  to  Venice  the 
commercial  supremacy  of  the  Mediterranean ;  but 
it  did  not  free  her  from  an  Eastern  Question,  for 
she  had  henceforth  to  reckon  with  the  Turks.  Her 
immediate  concern,  ^however,  was  with  her  neigh- 
bors on  the  mainland.  The  motive  which,  years 
before,  urged  her  westward,  had  lost  none  of  its 
validity:  unless  she  could  control  the  territory 
which  produced  her  food,  she  must  always  run  the 
risk  of  having  the  supplies  cut  off.  No  sooner  did 
she  begin  to  recover  from  the  strain  of  the  recent 
war  —  the  quickness  of  her  recuperation  proving 
how  much  of  her  reserve  power  had  not  been  drawn 
upon  —  than  she  longed  to  regain  her  foothold  on 
Terra  Firma. 

Two  difficulties  confronted  her :  one  was  physi- 
cal and  permanent, — the  great  plain  of  Northern 
Italy  offered  no  strategic  frontier  which  she  could 
fortify ;  the  other  was  political  and  shifting,  —  the 
little  despotisms  changed  masters  so  often  that  she 
could  establish  no  fixed  relations  with  any  one  of 
them.  Northern  Italy  was  then  torn  by  the  efforts 
of  successful  tyrants  to  perpetuate  their  dynasties. 
159 


160  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

A  dynasty,  once  established,  has  an  immense  hohl 
on  the  loyalty  of  its  subjects :  the  Stuarts,  for  in- 
stance, were  as  despicable  as  any  house  that  has 
ruled  in  England,  and  yet,  thanks  to  the  devotion 
which  a  dynasty  inspires,  they  had  a  strong  body 
of  adherents  for  nearly  a  century  after  James  II 
was  dethroned.  But  these  Italian  despots  inspired 
little  personal  devotion ;  they  held  their  supporters 
by  terror  or  money  or  office.  There  was  no  patri- 
otism, no  clanship.  The  day  of  the  mercenary  had 
come,  when  the  ownership  of  cities  and  states  de- 
pended on  the  greed  rather  than  the  valor  of  paid 
soldiers  of  fortune.  Amid  these  conditions,  dynas- 
ties could  not  strike  deep  root^  All  depended  on 
the  personality  of  the  tyrant ;  when  he  died,  a  new 
combination  arose. 

At  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  Gian  Gale- 
azzo  Visconti,  Lord  of  Milan,  — on  whom,  in  1395, 
the  Emperor  Wenceslas  conferred  the  title  of 
Duke,  —  was  by  far  the  most  powerful  ruler  in 
Italy.  A  new  Scaliger,  his  nearest  neighbor  on  the 
east,  had  somewhat  revived  the  fortunes  of  his 
house  at  Verona.  Between  him  and  Venice  lay 
the  dominion  of  Francesco  Carrara,  the  Lord  of 
Padua.  Among  these  rivals,  which  should  Venice 
support?  She  prudently  held  back  for  a  while, 
and  watched  Visconti  and  Carrara  overwhelm 
Delia  Scala  and  divide  his  lands  (1387).  Then  she 
had  to  choose  her  side,  for  Visconti  w^as  now  bent 
on  crushing  his  late  ally,  Carrara.  Visconti  was 
much  the  stronger,  but  Carrara  was  the  nearer  to 


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VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  161 

Venice.  If  Visconti  won,  he  would  indeed  be  just 
as  near ;  but  as  he  offered  to  restore  Feltre,  BeUuno, 
and  Treviso,  — the  food-bearing  plain  and  the  access 
to  the  northern  passes,  —  she  decided  to  favor  him. 
Francesco  Carrara,  seeing  his  overtures  swept  aside, 
and  despairing  of  being  a  match  for  both  Visconti 
and  Venice,  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  Francesco 
Novello.  But  this  did  not  help.  Visconti's  troops, 
subsidized  in  part  by  Venetian  ducats,  besieged  and 
captured  Padua,  and  gave  back  to  Venice  the  towns 
agreed  upon  (1388).  Within  eighteen  months,  how- 
ever, Francesco  Novello,  with  only  forty  intrepid 
followers,  came  by  stealth  on  Padua,  surprised  the 
garrison,  threw  open  the  gates  to  a  large  force,  and 
remained  master  of  the  city,  June  19,  1390.  Venice 
was  not  sorry  to  see  Visconti  worsted,  for  he  had 
been  an  insolent  neighbor.  She  made  friends  with 
Francesco  Novello,  granted  him  money  for  troops, 
and  for  ten  years  let  slip  no  opportunity  for  harass- 
ing Visconti. 

In  spite  of  the  loss  of  Padua,  Gian  Galeazzo 
pushed  forward  his  conquests  so  steadily  that  in 
1402  he  was  lord  of  a  greater  territory  than  any 
previous  Italian  tyrant  had  ruled.  The  Viper 
standard  floated  over  all  Lombard}^,  and  as  far  east 
as  Vicenza,  Feltre,  Trent,  and  Belluno ;  over  what 
is  now  Piedmont,  as  far  west  as  Vercelli,  with 
Novara,  Tortona,  and  Alessandria ;  and  beyond  the 
Apennines,  it  waved  over  Siena  in  the  heart  of  Tus- 
cany, and  over  Perugia  in  the  heart  of  Umbria; 
it  was  saluted  at  Bologna,  at  the  entrance  to  the 


162  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Marches,  and  at  Pisa  near  the  Tuscan  Sea.  If  the 
plague  had  not  carried  Gian  Galeazzo  off  in  his 
prime,  might  he  not  have  welded  these  widely 
scattered  possessions  into  a  kingdom,  and  so  have 
achieved  what  Dante  and  Petrarch  had  prophesied 
for  Italy?  Possibly;  and  yet  the  elements  of  a 
durable  kingdom  were  lacking.  When  he  died,  dis- 
integration set  in,  as  it  did  a  century  later  when 
Caesar  Borgia,  who  had  all  but  created  another 
kingdom,  was  killed. 

The  death  of  Visconti  (September  3,  1402)  gave 
a  sudden  impetus  to  Venetian  policy  on  the  main- 
land. He  divided  his  dominion  among  his  three 
sons,  the  oldest  of  whom  was  only  fourteen  years 
old,  under  the  regency  of  his  widow.  This  was 
the  signal  for  covetous  enemies  to  rise  and  for 
down-trodden  cities  to  rebel.  Francesco  Novello 
supposed  that  it  would  be  easy  for  him  to  reach 
westward  to  Verona ;  but  when  his  troops  appeared 
outside  of  Vicenza,  the  Vicentines  shut  the  gates 
on  them  and  voted  to  seek  the  protection  of  Venice. 
The  Duchess  Regent  also  appealed  to  the  Republic 
to  save  her  from  Francesco,  and  the  Republic  con- 
sented on  condition  that  Bassano,  Vicenza,  and 
Verona  should  become  Venetian.  This  hostile 
league  only  whetted  Francesco's  angry  confidence. 
"  Let  us  make  a  Lion  of  St.  Mark  of  this  herald," 
he  said,  when  a  messenger  came  from  Venice,  and 
having  slit  his  nose  and  cropped  his  ears,  the 
tyrant  sent  him  home  without  a  hearing. 

In  the  war  which  followed,  Francesco  was  finally 


vni  THE   PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  163 

driven  to  bay  at  Padua,  where  during  many  months 
he  sustained,  in  spite  of  plague  and  famine,  a 
stubborn  siege.  Venice  repeatedly  offered  him  fair 
terms  of  surrender,  which  he  persistently  refused. 
At  last  the  Venetians  took  the  city  (November  17, 
1404)  and  brought  him  and  his  two  sons  to 
Venice,  providing  honorable  treatment  until  the 
government  lighted  by  chance  on  the  traces  of 
a  great  conspiracy  which  the  Carraresi  had  long 
been  directing.  They  had  kept  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  Venetians,  among  whom  were  not  a  few  no- 
bles, in  their  pay,  awaiting  a  propitious  moment 
for  overturning  the  Signory.  The  proof  of  their 
guilt,  so  far  as  now  appears,  was  undeniable,  and 
sentence  of  death  was  pronounced  and  carried  out 
at  once.  The  father,  it  is  said,  fought  desperately 
with  a  wooden  stool  when  the  executioners  came 
to  strangle  him ;  the  sons  submitted  quietly.  At 
news  of  their  death  the  populace  shouted  for  joy, 
and  their  cry,  "Homo  morto,  vera  finia^^  ("Man 
dead,  war  ended"),  passed  into  a  proverb. 

Critics  hostile  to  Venice  cite  the  execution  of  the 
Carraresi  as  evidence  of  her  cruelty.  In  truth, 
however,  the  Signory  acted  without  haste,  observ- 
ing the  usual  judicial  forms,  and  decreed  the  death 
penalty  only  after  the  testimony  plainly  convicted 
them.  "At  the  court  of  the  V.^sconti,"  Mr.  Hazlitt 
says  truly,  they  "  would  have  been  poisoned.  At 
the  court  of  the  Scaliger  they  would  have  been 
assassinated.  At  Venice  they  were  tried."  And 
this,  although  they  were  guilty  of  the  worst  of 


164  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

jx)litical  crimes  —  a  plot  against  the  very  existence 
of  the  state. 

To  give  sympathy  to  any  of  the  Italian  despots 
is  to  waste  it.  Not  one  of  them  ever  suffered  in 
retribution  a  thousandth  part  of  the  anguish  he 
caused.  From  Ezzelino  da  Komano,  through  the 
Scaligers  and  the  Visconti,  the  Carraresi  and 
the  Sforzas,  down  to  the  Borgias,  the  Medici,  and  the 
Farnesi,  they  were  mostly  monsters,  without  mercy 
and  without  honor.  An  insatiate  egotism  was  the 
mainspring  of  their  action.  They  spared  neither 
women  in  their  lust  nor  children  in  their  ferocity. 
They  respected  no  oaths,  they  kept  no  compact, 
they  shrank  from  no  deceit.  They  regarded  the 
highest  positions  in  the  Church  as  mere  instruments, 
like  poison  and  the  dagger,  to  serve  their  ambition. 
And  what  makes  their  depravity  most  amazing,  is 
that  it  was  often  accompanied  by  a  mind  keen 
enough  to  delight  in  highly  intellectual  pleasures, 
and  by  a  taste  which  craved  beauty,  expressed 
through  forms  of  art,  whose  mission  it  should  be 
to  purify  and  ennoble. 

The  uprooting  of  the  Carraresi  left  Venice  mis- 
tress of  their  possessions, — Belluno,  Feltre,  Bassano, 
Padua,  Treviso,  Vicenza,  and  Verona;  the  fertile 
plains  and  the  outlets  to  the  north  were  at  last 
hers.  She  need  have  no  further  anxiety  about 
victuals.  Partly  by  judicious  subsidies,  and  partly 
by  a  successful  war,  she  had  secured  the  long- 
coveted  position  of  a  land  power.  The  cost  had 
been  comparatively  slight,  —  some  two  million  due- 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  165 

ats,  which  the  revenues  of  the  provinces  would  soon 
make  good.  Better  than  conquest  in  battle  was 
the  knowledge  that  these  cities  would  voluntarily 
have  placed  themselves  under  her  rule :  that 
promised  sympathetic  relations.  The  Veronese 
deputations  did  homage  on  July  12,  1406,  in  St. 
Mark's  Square,  where  they  were  received  with 
impressive  solemnity.  When  they  presented  the 
Doge  with  the  keys  of  their  city,  he  addressed 
them  in  the  words  of  Scripture,  "  The  people  that 
walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great  light ;  upon 
them  hath  light  shined."  In  the  following  January, 
Padua  swore  fealty  at  a  similar  ceremony. 

The  Signory,  in  framing  a  government  for  the 
new  possessions,  adhered  to  its  custom  of  permit- 
ting as  much  home  rule  as  was  compatible  with  the 
supremacy  of  the  Eepublic.  The  rector,  the  head 
of  the  civil  administration,  and  the  captain,  who 
commanded  the  garrison,  had  their  appointment 
from  Venice,  and  naturally  they  brought  their 
personal  retinue  or  staff  with  them ;  but  for  local 
affairs  each  city  chose  its  council  of  notables.  The 
judiciary  system  was  made  to  conform  as  nearly  as 
might  be  with  that  of  Venice  itself,  then  the  best 
in  Europe,  at  least  in  the  important  respect  that  it 
required  ecclesiastics  to  be  tried  in  civil  courts, 
except  when  purely  Church  matters  were  involved. 
A  great  impetus  was  given  to  the  University  of 
Padua  by  the  appropriation  of  4000  ducats  a  year 
for  the  salaries  of  its  professors.  In  Verona,  also, 
education  was  promoted.     "We  wish  to  have  the 


166  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE         .    chap. 

heart  and  love  of  our  citizens  and  subjects,"  the 
Signory  declared,  and  constantly  acted  with  this 
end  in  view. 

Thus  in  the  year  1405  Venice  reached  another 
turn  in  her  history.  Just  two  centuries  after  she 
took  on  herself  the  burden  of  empire  in  the  Levant 
she  became  permanently  a  land  power  in  Italy. 
The  immediate  gain  was  incontestable,  but  every 
rood  of  her  new  territory  carried  long-standing 
obligations,  chief  among  which  was  the  need  of 
defense.  Visconti's  heirs  were  still  too  young  to 
make  trouble,  but  Emperor-elect  Sigismund,  who 
was  also  King  of  Bohemia  and  of  Hungary,  declared 
war  in  the  hope  of  wresting  Friuli  and  the  Trevi- 
san  from  the  Kepublic,  and  of  recovering  Dalmatia, 
the  claims  to  which  his  rival,  Ladislas,  had  sold  to 
Venice.  The  war  dragged  on  for  nearly  four  years, 
costing  much  and  settling  nothing,  until  in  1413 
Sigismund  consented  to  a  truce,  which  lasted  five 
years.  When  war  was  resumed,  the  Emperor's 
forces  could  make  no  stand  against  the  Venetians, 
who  both  tightened  their  hold  on  Friuli,  and  estab- 
lished their  lordship  over  Gorizia  and  confirmed 
their  authority  in  Dalmatia.  History  teaches  us  to 
•  look  afar  for  causes.  To  the  burning  of  John  Huss, 
which  plunged  Sigismund  into  a  religious  war  at 
home  and  weakened  his  army  in  Italy,  we  must 
attribute  the  Venetian  success. 

Victory  flushed  the  ambitions  of  a  war  party 
which  had  been  coming  to  the  front.  To  fight 
from  a  thirst  for  glory,  to  conquer  for  sheer  love 


vni  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  167 

of  conquest,  had  never  been  characteristic  of  the 
Venetians.  They  fought  either  to  win  a  definite 
commercial  or  political  advantage,  or  to  repel  an 
assailant.  But  with  their  rapid  advance  on  the 
mainland  there  arose  a  party  who  insisted  that  the 
Republic  should  not  stoi?  at  the  Adige,  but  should 
go  on  and  subdue  Lombardy,  and  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity which  destiny  clearly  offered  her  of  becom- 
ing the  chief  power  in  Korthern  Italy.  To  be  great, 
they  urged,  a  state  must  be  martial;  and  if  it  en- 
joyed a  better  government  than  its  neighbors,  was 
it  not  its  duty  to  force  its  benefits  on  them  ?  Was 
there  not  wealth  to  be  got,  not  less  than  glory,  an 
outlet  for  the  superfluous  energy  and  a  market 
for  the  teeming  products  of  the  Venetians  ?  Since 
Alcibiades  —  most  seductive  of  Jingoes  —  lured  the 
Athenians  to  their  ruin  in  Sicily,  down  to  the 
promoters  of  yesterday's  war,  the  siren  song  of 
the  Jingoes  has  been  sung  to  the  same  tune.  And  of 
course  at  Venice  there  were  peculiar  conditions,  as 
there  always  are,  to  make  the  Jingo  plea  seem 
plausible.  To  keep  the  provinces  already  won  they 
must  win  more,  until  an  impregnable  frontier  could 
be  secured;  and  now  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  was 
waxing  so  strong  that  unless  they  forestalled  him 
he  would  soon  be  a  menace. 

The  Viscontean  peril  quickly  loomed  up;  for 
Filippo  Maria  planned  to  conquer  Tuscany,  and  the 
Florentines  sent  an  embassy  to  implore  Venice  to 
join  in  a  league  against  him.  The  discussion  of 
this  project  set  the  War  Party  and  the  Peace  Party 


1G8  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

face  to  face ;  but  so  long  as  Doge  Tommaso  Moce- 
nigo  lived,  the  advocates  of  peace  prevailed. 
Among  the  famous  records  of  Venice  are  the  ora- 
tion which  he  delivered  in  the  Great  Council  and 
his  deathbed  exhortation  shortly  after.  The  for- 
mer is  probably  unauthentic,  representing  views 
which  he  was  known  to  hold,  but  which  were  com- 
piled without  his  supervision ;  the  latter  has  strong 
marks  of  genuineness,  and  even  though  it  was  not 
actually  written  by  him,  it  gives  a  striking  picture 
of  Venice  in  1423. 

I  In  the  debate  in  the  Great  Council,  the  octogena- 
rian Doge  argued  for  peace  on  grounds  which  ought 
to  have  convinced  an  assembly  of  merchants.  He 
stated  the  revenues  which  Venice  drew  every  week 
from  the  chief  cities  of  the  Duke  of  Milan.  He 
likened  the  Duke's  possessions  to  a  rich  garden, 
the  fruits  of  which  the  Republic  enjoyed  without 
the  cost  of  maintenance.  The  yearly  receipts  from 
goods  sold  to  Milan  alone  amounted  to  900,000 
ducats,  and  from  the  other  Lombard  cities  came 
750,000  ducats  more.  "  Do  you  not  think  this  a 
fine  and  noble  garden,  which  costs  Venice  nothing  ?  " 
he  asked. )  That  same  Lombardy  buys  further 
900,000  lucats'  worth  of  Venetian  cloth.  "  If  you 
preserve  peace,  you  will  amass  so  much  money  that 
all  the  world  will  hold  you  in  awe.  ...  If  the 
Florentines  give  themselves  to  the  Duke,  so  much 
the  worse  for  those  who  interfere.  Justice  is  with 
us.  .  .  .  Live  in  peace,  fear  nothing,  and  trust 
not  the  Florentines!  .  .  .     Eound  you  is  naught 

-HI  N 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  169 

but  war,  fire,  tribulation.  Italy,  France,  Spain, 
Catalonia,  England,  Burgundy,  Persia,  Russia, 
Hungary,  all  are  at  war.  We  wage  war  against 
the  Infidels  only ;  and  great  are  the  praise  and 
glory  we  reap." 

The  Doge  singled  out  Francesco  Foscari,  leader 
of  the  War  Party,  for  special  rebuke.  "Young 
Procurator,"  he  said,  "  what  happened  to  Troy,  will 
happen  to  Florence,  and  will  happen  to  you.  By 
wars  the  Trojans  were  weakened  and  enslaved ;  by 
wars  Florence  is  destroying  herself,  and  we  shall 
do  the  like  if  we  take  counsel  of  our  young  Proc- 
urator. It  is  to  the  arts  of  peace  that  our  city 
owes  all  her  prosperity ;  to  them  is  she  indebted  for 
her  riches,  the  increase  in  her  population  and  her 
houses.  Pisa  grew  great  by  similar  nleans  and  by 
good  government.  She  plunged  into  war,  impover- 
ished herself,  and  was  lost.  So  will  it  be  with  us,  if 
we  listen  to  our  young  Procurator."  And  the  Doge 
went  on  to  assure  them  that,  even  though  Visconti 
should  conquer  Florence,  Venice  would  still  be  the 
gainer,  for  the  renowned  artisans  of  Florence  would 
emigrate  to  Venice,  as  the  silk  weavers  of  Lucca 
had  done.  "  Therefore,  preserve  peace  ! "  He  con- 
cluded by  the  solemn  declaration  that,  so  long  as 
he  lived,  he  would  not  consent  to  a  war  with  the 
Duke. 

Even  more  impressive  is  the  advice  which  he 
gave  on  his  deathbed  to  the  heads  of  the  state.  In 
it  he  mingles  political  wisdom  of  universal  applica- 
tion with  counsel  specially  directed  to  the   crisis 

5^ 


170  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

which  Venice  had  then  before  her.  It  belongs  in 
spirit  with  the  last  admonitions  of  Pericles  and 
with  Washington's  Farewell  Address.  I  quote 
much  of  it,  because  there  is  no  better  way  by  which 
the  Venice  of  five  centuries  ago  can  be  so  quickly 
conjured  up  to  our  view. 

"  I  wish  to  assemble  you  all  here,"  said  the  dying 
Doge,  "  to  recommend  to  you  this  Christian  city, 
and  to  persuade  you  to  love  your  neighbors,  to  do 
justice,  and  to  choose  peace  and  to  preserve  peace 
as  I  have  striven  to  do.  In  my  time,  the  public 
debt  has  been  reduced  4,000,000,  and  there  remain 
6,000,000.  Our  city  at  present  sends  out  in  com- 
merce, into  sundry  parts  of  the  world,  10,000,000 
ducats  every  year  with  ships  and  galleys,  and  the 
profit  is  not  less  than  2,000,000  ducats  a  year.  In 
this  city  there  are  3000  ships  of  from  100  to  200 
anfore  burthen,  and  it  has  17,000  mariners,  3000 
ship  carpenters,  and  3000  calkers.  There  are  3000 
silk  weavers,  16,000  cloth  weavers ;  the  dwellings 
are  reckoned  at  7,000,500  ducats.  The  rents  are 
500,000  ducats.  If  you  continue  in  this  way,  you 
will  multiply  from  good  to  better,  and  you  will  be 
masters  of  all  the  gold  in  Christendom ;  every  one 
will  lear  you.  But  as  if  from  fire  keep  yourselves 
from  taking  what  belongs  to  others,  and  from  wag- 
ing unjust  war,  for  God  cannot  endure  these  errors 
in  princes.  Every  one  knows  that  the  war  with  the 
Turk  has  made  you  valorous  and  skillful  by  sea; 
you  have  six  captains  competent  to  command  any 
great  fleet;   for  each  of  them  you  have  masters, 


vm  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  171 

crossbowmen,  boatswains,  crews,  and  oarsmen  suffi- 
cient to  equip  a  hundred  galleys  ;  and  this  year  you 
have  so  proved  yourself  that  the  world  holds  you 
foremost  in  Christendom.  You  have  many  men 
experienced  in  embassies  and  in  governing  cities, 
who  are  perfect  orators.  You  have  many  doctors 
in  divers  sciences,  and  especially  many  legists, 
wherefore  many  foreigners  come  for  judgment  in 
their  suits  and  trust  themselves  to  your  decisions. 
Your  mint  coins  every  year  1,000,000  gold  ducats 
and  200,000  silver  ducats,  and  it  coins  800,000 
soldoni.  Into  Syria  there  go  every  year  50,000  duc- 
ats and  to  Terra  Firma  100,000 ;  the  rest  remains 
at  home. 

"  You  know  that  the  Florentines  give  every  year 
16,000  pieces  of  cloth,  which  we  dispose  of  in  Bar- 
bary,  in  Egypt,  in  Syria,  in  Cyprus,  in  Rhodes,  in 
Eomania,  in  Candia,  in  the  Morea,  and  in  Istria; 
and  every  month  the  Florentines  bring  70,000 
ducats'  worth  of  all  kinds  of  merchandise  into  this 
city,  —  which  make  840,000  ducats  and  more  a  year, 
—  and  they  purchase  French  and  Catalan  wools, 
crimson  dye,  worsted,  silks,  gold  tissues,  silver 
thread  and  jewels,  to  the  great  benefit  of  this  city. 

"  Therefore,  learn  to  govern  such  a  state,  and  take 
care  to  counsel  it  aright,  and  to  prevent  its  ever 
dwindling  through  negligence.  Very  carefully  must 
you  observe  him  who  shall  fill  my  place,  because 
through  him  the  Republic  may  receive  much  good 
and  much  harm.  Many  of  you  are  inclined  to 
Messer   Marino   Caravello,  who  is   a  worthy  man 


-^ 


172  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

and  merits  that  distinction  by  his  worthy  qualities. 
M.  Francesco  Bembo  is  a  fit  man,  and  so  is  M.  Gia- 
como  Trevisani ;  M.  Antonio  Contarini,  M.  Faustin 
Michiel,  M.  Alban  Badoer  —  all  these  are  wise  and 
merit  it.  Many  incline  toward  M.  Francesco  Fos- 
cari,  and  they  do  not  recognize  him  for  the  proud 
and  lying  man  he  is ;  there  is  no  foundation  to  his 
affairs ;  he  is  hot-headed ;  he  reaches  out  after  much 
and  retains  little.  If  he  be  your  doge,^u  will  live 
always  at  war ;  he  who  owns  10,000  ducats  will  not 
have  a  thousand;  he  who  has  two  houses  will  not 
have  one ;  you  will  spend  gold  and  silver,  reputa- 
tion and  honor ;  where  you  are  now  the  heads,  you 
will  become  the  vassals  of  the  soldiery,  of  the  men- 
at-arms  and  captains.  II  cannot  refrain  from  letting 
you  know  my  advice!  May  God  allow  you  to  choose 
the  best,  and  may  He  rule  and  keep  you  in  peace." 
Tommaso  Mocenigo,  with  whose  death  medieval 
Venice  is  commonly  said  to  have  passed  away,  died 
on  April  4,  1423.  He  was  the  last  of  a  series  of 
doges  who  represented  the  high  type  of  statesman- 
ship that  the  Republic  had  trained,  men  who  were 
employed  from  youth  up  in  all  departments  of  the 
state,  who  embodied  the  national  traditions  and 
knew  the  character  and  methods  of  the  foreign 
rulers  with  whom  they  had  to  deal,  and  who 
brought  to  the  ducal  throne  the  maturity  and  wis- 
dom of  a  patriarch  with  the  force  and  alertness  of 
full-blooded  prime.  Andrea  Contarini  (1368-82) 
piloted  his  country  through  the  crucial  war  with 
Genoa.      His   successor,   Michele   Morosini,   lived 


vm  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  173 

only  a  few  months,  but  was  made  of  tlie  stuff  which 
only  a  great  race  breeds.  During  the  Chioggian 
War  he  poured  his  wealth  into  the  empty  treasury, 
and,  what  had  a  more  important  moral  effect,  he 
bought  houses  and  land  in  the  beleaguered  capital. 
When  some  one  told  him  that  it  was  madness  to  risk 
his  money  in  an  investment  which  would  be  wiped 
out  if  the  Genoese  conquered,  he  replied,  "  If  Genoa 
conquers,  I  shall  not  care  what  becomes  of  my 
investments."  Antonio  Yenier  (1382-1400),  who 
reigned  next,  steadied  the  Eepublic  through  her 
tempestuous  contest  with  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti 
and  with  the  Carrara.  After  him  followed  Michele 
Steno  (1400-14),  who  in  his  wild  youth  had 
affronted  Marino  Faliero,  and  who  at  near  four- 
score kept  a  leonine  temper.  In  a  heated  council 
meeting  he  spoke  against  a  motion  of  the  Avogadors. 
They  interrupted,  and  claimed  that  the  Doge  had 
no,  jurisdiction  in  that  matter.  Still  he  spoke  on. 
Then  one  of  them  boldly  said,  "  May  it  please  your 
Serenity  to  sit  down  and  hold  your  tongue,"  but 
the  Doge  would  not  be  silenced.  The  Avogadors  next 
threatened  to  fine  him  one  thousand  lire  and  to  sum- 
mon him  before  the  Ten.  He  finished  his  protest, 
and  then,  to  force  the  issue,  he  demanded  that  they 
should  impeach  him.  But  they  found  it  prudent 
to  admit  that  he  had  not  overstepped  his  rights. 
Before  they  elected  his  successor,  however,  they 
amended  the  ducal  promission  so  as  to  make  it 
lawful  for  two  Avogadors  to  impeach  the  Doge  for 
whatever  they  deemed  an  infringement  of  the  con- 


174  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

stitution.  That  successor,  Tommaso  Mocenigo, 
whose  final  counsel  to  his  countrymen  we  have 
just  listened  to,  was  in  many  respects  the  wisest 
statesman  of  the  five.  In  him,  too,  devotion  to 
Venezia  wells  up.  The  year  before  his  death  the 
Ducal  Palace  was  burnt,  and  the  Senate  decreed 
that  no  one,  under  a  penalty  of  one  thousand  ducats, 
should  propose  to  have  it  rebuilt.  Mocenigo  paid 
the  fine,  made  the  motion  to  rebuild,  and  began  the 
restoration  of  the  Palace  which  stands  to-day. 
Such  was  the  fibre  of  the  last  of  the  medieval  doges. 
On  April  15,  1423,  in  spite  of  Mocenigo's  warn- 
ing, Francesco  Poscari  was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 
It  is  ominous  to  hear  for  the  first  time  that  at  his 
election  bribery  was  practiced.  The  oligarchy  had 
perfected  the  most  elaborate  system  of  balloting, 
but  the  wiles  of  ambitious  politicians  evaded  it. 
The  Doge  was,  in  theory,  reduced  to  a  figurehead, 
and  yet  one  doge  after  another  continued  to  stamp 
his  individuality  on  Venetian  policy.  Foscari's 
election  marked  the  abolition  of  the  last  remnant  of 
popular  government ;  in  his  promission  he  pledged 
himself  never  to  summon  the  arrengo,  and  the  tradi- 
tional form  of  announcing  the  election  of  the  new 
ruler  —  "  This  is  your  doge,  an  it  please  you  "  —  was 
changed  to  "  This  is  your  doge."  The  arrengo  had 
never  rejected  the  ruler  chosen  by  the  electors ;  but 
so  long  as  the  phrase  "an  it  please  you"  remained, 
they  might  be  tempted  to  see  how  much  their  pleas- 
ure could  accomplish.  This  final  record  of  exclu- 
sion was  accepted  so  quietly  that  the  fact  must 


viii  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  175 

have  been  acquiesced  in  long  before.  The  Ten, 
the  vital  executive  force  of  the  oligarchy,  had  taken 
a  century  to  shut  out  the  people  and  to  bind  the 
Doge. 

Foscari,  the  "  young  Procurator,"  was  fifty  years 
old,  seasoned  after  the  Venetian  fashion  by  service  in 
many  offices ;  he  had  been  Chief  of  the  Forty  and  then 
Chief  of  the  Ten ;  he  had  gone  on  various  embassies, 
was  four  times  an  Avogador,  and  twice  Inquisitor  of 
the  Ten.  He  stood  for  the  policy  of  aggrandizement, 
but  he  did  not  lack  the  true  Venetian  deliberateness, 
so  that  a  year  and  a  half  elapsed  after  his  election  be- 
fore he  consented  to  a  league  with  Florence  against 
Visconti.  The  Florentines,  beaten  at  Zagonara 
(July  27,  1424),  sent  new  envoys  to  persuade  the 
Venetians  to  declare  war,  even  threatening  in  case  of 
^refusal  to  face  about  and  make  Visconti  king.  The 
Senate  agreed  to  the  league,  not  so  much  because 
they  feared  the  threat,  as  because  they  believed 
that  they  could  now  strike  with  great  odds  of  vic- 
tory in  their  favor.  They  had  won  over  to  their 
side  Carmagnola,  the  foremost  condottiere  of  the 
age,  through  whose  military  genius  in  the  previous 
years  Visconti  had  regained  his  power,  and  to 
Carmagnola  they  intrusted  the  command  of  their 
army.  They  had  as  allies  besides  Florence  the 
Dukes  of  Mantua  and  of  Savoy.  By  the  terms  of 
the  league,  Venice  and  Florence  were  each  to  pro- 
vide eight  thousand  horse,  and  three  thousand  foot, 
and  a  flotilla  to  navigate  the  Po. 

Hostilities  began  in   February,  1426,   with  the 


176  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

siege  of  Brescia.  Carmagnola  made  his  arrange- 
ments with  skill,  and  then  wrote  to  the  Signory  for 
permission  to  take  the  cure  at  the  Baths  of  Abano. 
The  special  Junta  of  One  Hundred,  created  to  con- 
duct the  war,  was  surprised  at  his  unmartial  request, 
but  granted  it.  During  Carmagnola's  absence  the 
Duke  of  Mantua  had  command.  The  summer  wore 
away,  and  still  the  Viscontean  garrison  held  out  at 
Brescia.  In  October,  Carmagnola  discovered  that 
he  needed  to  try  a  second  cure  at  the  Baths,  and  he 
had  not  returned  to  camp  when  the  city  surrendered 
(November  10,  1426).  Venice  was  so  well  satisfied 
with  the  outcome  of  the  campaign  that  she  concluded 
peace  with  Visconti,  who  was  forced  to  consent  to 
the  cession  of  Brescia. 

Within  a  few  weeks,  however,  Visconti  having 
failed  to  keep  faith,  fighting  broke  out  afresh.  Car- 
magnola was  amply  provided  with  troops,  but  he 
would  not  budge  from  his  headquarters.  When  the 
Hundred  urged  hira  to  activity,  he  complained  that 
he  lacked  forage  or  money  for  his  men,  or  that  he 
had  not  a  sufficient  force  —  and  this,  although  his 
army  numbered  about  forty  thousand  men.  He 
was  caught  in  ambush  by  Piccinino,  the  Duke's 
generalissimo,  and  when  at  last  he  gained  a  victory 
at  Casalmaggiore,  he  at  once  released  his  prisoners, 
so  that  the  enemy  could  put  them  in  the  field  again 
without  delay.  He  held  constant  communication 
with  the  Duke,  on  the  plea  that  the  latter  wished 
to  negotiate  a  durable  peace,  and  he  paid  no  heed 
when  the   Signory   courteously  intimated  that  it 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  177 

would  be  better  for  Carmagnola  to  do  the  fighting 
and  to  leave  negotiating  to  them.  The  Venetian 
po^julace  began  openly  to  charge  him  with  treachery  ; 
but  the  long-suffering  Signory  tried  to  imagine  ex- 
cuses for  him,  and  they  continued  to  treat  him  with 
the  utmost  deference.  Perhaps  piqued  by  the  sus- 
picions which  he  heard,  or  fearful  that  his  employers 
would  themselves  grow  weary,  he  won  a  brilliant 
battle  at  Maclodio  (or  Macalo),  near  the  river  Oglio 
(October  11,  1427),  crushing  in  turn  Piccinino, 
Sforza,  and  Carlo  Malatesta.  This  success  tempo- 
rarily restored  him  to  popularity  ;  but  after  a  little 
the  Venetians  began  to  grumble  because  he  set  free 
Malatesta  and  eight  thousand  prisoners,  —  that  was 
the  absurd  rule  of  mercenary  warfare,  —  and  he 
failed  to  make  a  dash  on  Milan,  which,  it  appeared, 
he  might  have  captured.  So  another  spring  came 
round,  and  there  was  not  yet  peace.  Just  as  the 
campaign  of  1428  opened,  Carmagnola  felt  the  need 
of  more  baths ;  but  the  Senate  required  him  to  stay 
in  the  field,  and  before  long,  through  the  interces- 
sion of  the  Pope,  Visconti  made  peace,  on  condition 
of  surrendering  Bergamo. 

With  Visconti,  however,  peace  was  only  a  ruse 
for  gaining  the  time  needed  to  prepare  for  another 
struggle ;  within  six  months  he  was  ready  to  fight 
again.  Carmagnola  now  asked  to  be  allowed  to 
resign  his  command.  The  Venetian  Senate,  which 
had  cause  enough  to  be  dissatisfied  with  him,  never- 
theless thought  it  more  prudent  to  keep  him  where 
they  could  watch  and  circumvent  his  intrigues  than 


178  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

to  let  him  pass  into  Visconti's  service  and  turn  his 
genius  against  the  captains  whom  they  must  rely  on 
in  his  stead.  They  gave  him  immense  largesse,  paid 
him  personally  one  thousand  ducats  a  month,  and 
did  not  allow  it  to  appear  officially  that  they  were 
not  well  contented  with  "his  Magnificence."  As 
Visconti  postponed  the  war  until  1431,  Carmagnola 
enjoyed  his  fortune  in  splendid  idleness.  On  being 
forced  to  take  the  field,  he  either  dawdled  inactive 
or  let  slip,  by  criminal  negligence,  the  chances  which 
promised  success.  Another  campaign  was  wasted ; 
the  cost  of  the  war  began  to  outrun  the  revenues 
allotted  to  it;  doubts,  questions,  murmurs,  were 
heard  in  the  Great  Council.  But  still  the  govern- 
ment thought  the  time  to  act  not  ripe. 

Finally,  in  March,  1432,  the  Council  of  Ten  de- 
cided to  strike.  They  sent  a  messenger  to  sum- 
mon Carmagnola  to  Venice,  on  the  pretext  that  they 
wished  to  confer  with  him  and  the  Duke  of  Mantua 
about  the  next  campaign.  Not  a  hint  of  their  real 
purpose  leaked  out.  Carmagnola,  apparently  sus- 
pecting nothing,  accompanied  the  messenger  with- 
out demur.  The  people  along  his  route  fgted  him, 
and  with  due  honors  he  entered  the  capital.  Beach- 
ing the  Ducal  Pala,ce,  he  proceeded  at  once  to  salute 
the  Doge,  but  in  the  Sala  delle  Quattro  Porte,  Leo- 
nardo Mocenigo  informed  him  that  his  Serenity  had 
met  with  a  slight  accident  which,  to  his  regret,  would 
prevent  him  from  receiving  the  Captain-General  un- 
til the  morrow.  Carmagnola  replied  that,  as  it  was 
late,  he  would  go  to  his  own  house  for  the  night. 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE   WAYS  179 

When  he  turned  to  descend  the  staircase,  one  of  the 
ducal  attendants  said,  "  This  way,  my  lord,"  point- 
ing to  the  corridor  which  led  to  the  "  Orba  "  prison. 
"  But  that  is  not  the  way  ! "  exclaimed  Carmagnola. 
^'  Excuse  me,  it  is  !  "  replied  the  attendant,  who,  with 
some  of  his  fellows,  hustled  the  victim  toward  the 
prison.  In  an  instant  the  truth  flashed  on  him.  "  I 
am  lost,"  he  cried  out,  as  they  locked  him  into  his 
cell  (April  17,  1533). 

For  two  days  he  refused  food.  On  the  third  day 
he  was  brought  before  the  special  Junta  which  con- 
ducted his  trial.  As  he  persisted  in  denying  the 
charges  of  treachery  with  which  they  accused  him, 
he  was  put  to  the  brazier  and  confessed.  During 
Holy  Week  and  the  Easter  festivities  the  trial  was 
adjourned ;  then  it  was  resumed,  and  for  a  fortnight 
much  evidence  and  many  witnesses  were  examined. 
No  doubt  of  his  guilt  remained.  On  May  5,  1432, 
clad  gayly  in  scarlet,  he  was  led  out  to  the  Piazzetta 
and  beheaded. 

The  Eepublic's  severity  has  been  often  criti- 
cised, and  Carmagnola' s  death  alleged  as  an  in- 
dication of  the  mercilessness  of  the  Ten.  But 
where  shall  we  turn  for  a  better  example  of  long- 
suffering?  President  Lincoln  was  patient  with 
McClellan's  procrastination  in  the  American  Civil 
War ;  but  after  a  year,  even  Lincoln  lost  patience. 
The  Signory  bore  with  Carmagnola  eight  years. 
Not  having  had  previous  experience  with  hired 
condottieri,  they  were  unprepared  for  his  lack  of 
zeal,  his  releasing  of  prisoners,  his  intercourse  with 


180  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  enemy,  his  costly  and  disastrous  inactivity,  his 
abortive  victories.  For  him  and  his  followers,  the 
game  of  war  was  a  lifelong  pursuit,  in  which  a  battle 
could  occur  only  by  accident ;  and  the  captains,  like 
modern  counsel  for  litigants  to  a  rich  man's  estate, 
desired  nothing  so  little  as  a  settlement.  Battle  it- 
self was  almost  as  harmless  as  a  French  duel ;  at  Ma- 
clodio,  for  instance,  where  thirty  thousand  or  more 
men  were  engaged,  few  soldiers  were  killed,  although 
many  horses  perished.  Venice  had  always  fought 
in  dead  earnest ;  and  when  she  employed  the  chief 
general  of  his  age  to  conduct  her  wars,  she  expected 
prompt  service  and  an  adequate  result.  That  she 
dissimulated,  is  plain.  "  Whoever  holds  a  tiger  by 
the  ears  cannot  let  go,"  says  the  Eastern  proverb. 
She  could  neither  dismiss  Carmagnola  with  the 
certainty  that  he  would  enter  Visconti's  service, 
nor  tell  him  that  when  she  had  sufficient  proof  of 
his  duplicity  she  would  destroy  him.  She  trapped 
him,  as  our  police  to-day  feel  justified  in  trapping  a 
great  criminal  who  is  about  to  escape ;  and  then  she 
tried  him  by  the  fairest  procedure  she  knew. 

After  his  guilt  was  proved,  condemnation  followed 
as  a  matter  of  course ;  from  time  immemorial  she 
used  to  punish  her  native  commanders  for  mere 
defeat;  she  could  do  no  less  by  an  alien  guilty  of 
criminal  negligence  and  of  treachery.  Grant  that 
the  treachery  was  presumptive,  there  is  no  dispute 
as  to  negligence  and  disregard  of  orders,  crimes 
which  have  been  awarded  the  severest  penalty  in 
every  civilized  military  code.    Had  the  Signory  not 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  181 

wislied  to  deal  judicially  with  Carmagnola,  they  could 
have  killed  him  privately  —  they  had  no  scruples 
against  hiring  a  poisoner  to  rid  them  of  Visconti ; 
that  they  insisted  on  trying  him,  implies  a  respect 
for  legality.  Sentimentalists  point  to  the  fact  that 
he  was  gagged  on  the  way  to  the  block  as  proof 
of  the  Signory's  inhumanity ;  but  surely  they  must 
know  that  gagging  was  the  common  practice,  and 
was  not  adopted  for  his  special  torment.  Judged 
by  the  best  standard  of  the  fifteenth  century,  or 
even  of  recent  times,  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
Eepublic  fell  short  in  her  treatment  of  Carmagnola. 
He,  on  the  other  hand,  behaved  with  more  than 
the  usual  arrogance  of  condottieri  toward  their  em- 
ployers ;  for  he  arranged  to  receive  enormous  emol- 
uments, and  to  give  little  or  nothing  in  return.  To 
play  this  game  with  a  commercial  nation,  which 
knew  the  value  of  a  ducat,  was  indiscreet.  How 
to  deal  with  a  condottiere  was  a  new  problem  for 
Venice  ;  she  solved  it  with  such  thoroughness  that, 
although  she  employed  many  soldiers  of  fortune 
after  Carmagnola,  —  Gonzaga,  Gattemelata,  Colle- 
oni,  Sf orza, «—  none  dared  to  betray  her. 

The  war  with  Visconti  dragged  on  without  decisive 
results  until  1441,  when  the  Duke,  having  failed 
to  recover  Brescia,  which  held  out  with  magnificent 
pluck  through  a  three  years'  siege,  made  peace. 
One  operation  deserves  to  be  recorded.  Visconti's 
troops  so  completely  hemmed  in  Brescia  that  the  only 
way  to  relieve  it  was  by  Lake  Garda.  Two  engi- 
neers, Biasio  de  Arboribus  and  ISTiccolo  Sorbolo,  pro- 


182  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

posed  to  take  a  flotilla  up  the  Adige  to  Roveredo, 
and  thence  to  haul  it  overland  across  a  spur  of  the 
Alps  to  the  lake.  The  project  seemed  herculean,  but 
the  Signory  voted  to  try  it ;  and  as  soon  as  possible 
six  galleys  and  twenty-five  barks  were  prepared. 
Two  thousand  oxen  were  hitched  to  them,  and  so 
tugged  them  over  snow  or  greased  stones  and  cor- 
duroy ways  to  the  top  of  the  Monte  Baldo  pass. 
The  descent  from  there  to  the  lake,  a  distance  of 
nearly  fifteen  miles,  was  most  perilous,  requiring 
all  the  skill  of  the  engineers  to  keep  the  ships 
from  getting  too  much  headway  and  plunging  over 
precipices.  They  reached  Torbole,  on  the  lake,  in 
seaworthy  condition ;  and  although  they  had  less 
influence  than  had  been  hoped  in  relieving  Brescia, 
the  feat  of  transporting  them  remains  unparalleled. 

The  peace  of  Cavriana,  which  Visconti  made  in 
1441,  left  Venice  mistress  of  the  territory  she  had 
conquered  as  far  west  as  the  Adda.  It  left  her 
also  with  many  burdens.  Under  Mocenigo  she  re- 
duced her  debt  by  four  million  ducats ;  in  the  first 
ten  years  of  Foscari's  reign  she  increased  it  by 
seven  million  ducats  ;  and  in  1441  the  total  must 
have  been  sixteen  or  seventeen  millions.  In  com- 
pensation she  owned  Bergamo  and  Brescia,  two 
perpetual  causes  of  quarrel  with  whoever  ruled 
Milan.  She  had  become  accustomed  to  the  idea 
that  she  must  maintain  a  high  position  as  a  land 
power,  with  the  inevitable  political  and  military 
dangers  which  that  implied. 

On  August  13,  1447,  Filippo  Maria  Visconti's 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  183 

sudden  death  started  up  several  claimants  to  his 
dukedom.  Frederick  III  claimed  Milan  as  a  fief 
of  the  Empire;  Charles  of  Orleans  declared  him^ 
self  the  rightful  heir  through  his  mother,  Valentina 
Visconti;  Alfonso  of  Naples  had  been  designated 
by  Filippo  to  succeed  him ;  and  Francesco  Sforza, 
who  married  Filipino's  daughter,  Bianca,  did  not 
intend  to  give  up  his  claims.  The  Milanese  them- 
selves, tired  of  tyrants,  established  a  republic. 
Some  of  their  neighboring  cities  sought  protection 
of  Venice^  who  welcomed  them  and  promised  to  sup- 
port the  Milanese  if  they  would  consent  to  her  hav- 
ing the  cities.  Not  with  them,  but  with  Sforza,  was 
the  real  war  waged.  Since  Carmagnola's  death,  he 
had  been  the  foremost  soldier  in  Italy  for  deci- 
sion and  skill,  and  as  he  now  had  troops,  he  won 
back  one  after  another  of  his  father-in-law's  lands, 
and  in  March,  1450,  he  became  Duke  of  Milan. 
Then  he  set  about  recovering  Bergamo  and  Brescia, 
The  contest  was  still  unsettled  when  a  catastrophe 
occurred  in  the  East  that  alarmed  Christendom  and 
for  a  while  caused  minor  quarrels  to  be  adjourned. 
On  May  29,  1453,  the  Turks,  led  by  Mohammed 
II,  took  Constantinople  by  storm,  Constantine  Pale- 
ologos,  the  Eastern  Emperor,  dying  sword  in  hand. 
The  event  was  not  unexpected.  Ever  since  1396, 
when  Bajazet  routed  the  Hungarians  and  French 
at  Nicopolis,  it  was  evident  that  only  by  a  coalition 
of  the  Western  and  Eastern  Christians  could  the 
terrible  Turkish  invasion  be  driven  back ;  but  the 
Christians  were  too  busy  fighting  one  another  to 


184  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

combine  in  so  noble  a  cause.  After  all,  it  was  hard 
to  rouse  the  imagination  of  the  English,  French,  or 
Germans  to  the  harm  that  would  come  to  them  if 
the  master  of  the  Bosphorus  should  be  a  Turk  in- 
stead of  a  Greek.  Religious  sentiment,  which  had 
launched  so  many  Crusades,  had  waned,  and  the 
Roman  Church  itself  was  rent  with  schism.  The 
state  which  would  suffer  most  was  Venice:  why 
should  Western  Europe  sacrifice  itself  to  protect 
the  commerce  of  the  Venetians  ?  Let  them  guard 
their  own  interests.  For  a  while  it  seemed  as  if, 
single-handed,  they  could  cope  with  the  Turk.  In 
1416  their  fleet  crushed  a  Turkish  fleet  at  Gallipoli ; 
but  presently  the  Turks  seized  Salonica,  which  be- 
longed to  Venice,  and  overran  what  is  now  Euro- 
pean Turkey.  When  Venice  found  that  the  support 
she  counted  on  failed  her,  she  made  terms  with 
the  enemy.  Her  mission  in  the  East  was  trade, 
not  conquest,  and  to  secure  her  trade  she  agreed 
to  pay  tribute  (1430).  As  the  end  of  the  Eastern 
Empire  drew  near,  she  sent  a  few  ships  in  response 
to  the  Emperor's  agonized  appeal;  and  Venetians 
did  their  part  in  defending  the  city  on  the  fatal 
29th  of  May.  Their  merchants  in  Constantinople 
suffered  damages  above  the  value  of  three  hundred 
thousand  ducats  by  the  coming  of  the  Turks. 
Traffic  ceased  for  a  time ;  but  in  1454  the  Republic 
succeeded  in  negotiating  with  the  Sultan  a  treaty 
by  which,  in  return  for  more  tribute,  he  permitted 
her  to  resume  it. 

Although  Western  Europeans  had  cared  little  to 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  185 

save  the  crumbling  Greek  dynasty,  they  shuddered 
to  learn  that  a  Turkish  Sultan  reigned  at  Constan- 
tinople, for  the  tigrine  zeal  of  the  Ottomans  was 
dreaded  by  peoples  who  had  never  faced  it.  The 
Turks  still  kept  the  terrible  vigor  of  the  nomadic 
barbarian,  but  added  thereto  a  capacity  for  borrow- 
ing from  the  civilization  they  assailed  means  to 
make  their  assault  more  effective.  They  were 
charged  with  religious  fanaticism.  They  reveled 
in  war  for  the  intoxication  which  war  kindles  in 
the  semi-savage.  They  knew  enough  of  Byzantine 
luxury,  without  being  softened  by  it,  to  desire  to 
possess  it.  And,  like  all  rugged  races  at  this  stage, 
the  Turks  were  eager  to  press  forward,  to  exercise 
their  exuberant  energy  in  smiting  new  enemies  and 
conquering  new  kingdoms.  They  were  impelled  by 
such  a  terrific  momentum  as  had  whirled  the  Sara- 
cens in  the  eighth  century  from  Arabia  to  Spain, 
and  in  the  eleventh  century  had  driven  the  Mag- 
yars like  a  wedge  into  Central  Europe.  To-day 
they  had  Stamboul ;  to-morrow  they  would  overrun 
the  Morea ;  after  that  they  would  swoop  down  on 
Italy  and  Eome.  The  Western  Christians  were  at 
last  aroused,  but  before  we  follow  their  plans  for 
confronting  the  turbaned  hosts,  we  must  review 
briefly  the  close  of  Eoscari's  reign. 

If  ever  an  innovator  was  paid  in  his  own  coin, 
that  man  was  Francesco  Foscari.  He  had  urged 
the  expansion  of  Venice  over  Terra  Firma,  and  had 
witnessed  that  policy  bring  thirty  years  of  almost 
continuous  warfare.      It  brought  coveted  provinces, 


186  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

too,  and  financial  stress.  The  funds  dropped  to  eigh- 
teen and  one  half  per  cent.;  the  treasury  skipped 
payment  of  interest,  or  anticipated  its  taxes.  But 
thirty  years  may  see  many  vicissitudes.  What  state 
remembers  its  calamities  more  than  ten  years  ? 
And  Foscari's  reign  saw  pomps,  an  unquestioned 
augmenting  of  prestige,  and  the  cropping  out  in  the 
national  temper  of  a  tendency  to  parade  its  superi- 
ority. In  1437  the  Eepublic  asked  and  received 
from  the  Emperor  the  investiture  of  her  mainland 
possessions,  which  he  claimed  as  lord :  a  mere  for- 
mality on  her  part,  and  yet  it  showed  how  far  her 
entanglement  in  the  politics  of  Northern  Italy  had 
influenced  her  to  imitate  her  rivals.  To  secure  her 
title  to  Ravenna,  over  which  she  had  virtually  ruled 
for  forty  years,  she  did  homage  to  the  Pope  (1451). 
We  feel  that  the  old  Venice  is  passing  away. 
Instead  of  the  sureness  with  which  she  had  held 
aloof  from  foreign  complications,  there  is  now  in- 
decision. The  old-time  statesman  was  a  helmsman 
who  knew  every  headland  by  day  and  the  pilot 
stars  by  night.  But  the  new  statesmen  were  jug- 
glers, each  trying  to  keep  a  dozen  balls  in  the  air  — 
so  many  were  the  interests  and  so  swift  the  changes. 
The  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  also,  that  solvent  of 
medievalism,  is  working,  and  at  Venice  as  elsewhere 
its  first  effect  is  to  liberate  the  intellect  without 
strengthening  the  morals.  Political  corruption,  for 
which  Foscari's  election  had  set  an  ominous  prec- 
edent, has  grown  common.  In  1433  a  ring,  num- 
bering more  than  fifty  patricians,  bent  on  securing 


VIII  THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  187 

offices  for  themselves  and  their  friends,  is  discovered 
and  smashed.  Ten  years  later  (1444),  the  Doge's 
own  son,  Jacopo,  is  convicted  of  taking  bribes. 
The  Council  of  Ten  banishes  him  to  Nauplia,  but 
he  has  already  fled  to  Trieste.  In  1447  the  Doge 
implores  that  his  son  may  be  permitted  to  return, 
and  the  Ten  consent,  adding  that  the  old  man  can- 
not properly  attend  to  public  affairs  so  long  as  his 
mind  is  distracted  by  worry  for  his  son.  Jacopo  re- 
turns, but  he  falls  under  suspicion  of  abetting  the 
assassination  of  one  of  the  Chiefs  of  the  Ten,  and 
although  no  direct  evidence  is  recorded  against 
him,  he  is  banished  to  Candia.  There  he  intrigues 
with  the  Sultan  to  free  him,  is  found  out,  and 
brought  back  to  Venice  for  trial.  He  offers  no  de- 
fense, and  the  Ten,  unwilling  to  execute  the  sen- 
tence of  death  which  some  of  the  court  suggest, 
condemn  him  to  perpetual  banishment.  In  bidding 
farewell  to  his  son,  the  Doge  breaks  down  in  agony, 
and  this  separation,  which  proved  to  be  final  (Ja- 
copo died  in  1457),  leaves  the  aged  Foscari  a  wreck. 
Enfeebled  with  years  and  stricken  with  grief,  he 
neglects  his  ducal  duties,  and  the  Ten  compel  him, 
in  spite  of  his  protest,  to  abdicate.  As  he  quits  the 
Palace,  they  would  screen  him  from  the  bitterness 
of  facing  the  populace  ;  but  with  unabated  pride  he 
replies  :  "  N"o,  no  !  I  will  go  down  by  the  stair  by 
which  I  came  up  to  my  dogeship."  Seven  days 
later  he  died  (jSTovember  1,  1457). 

Foscari's  reign  of  thirty-four  years  was  the  long- 
est and  one  of  the  most  fateful  in  Venetian  history. 


188  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE      chap,  vni 

The  pathos  of  its  close  should  not  blind  us  to  the 
unsoundness  of  its  dominant  qualities.  Foscari 
himself  worked  vigorously  for  what  he  deemed 
the  welfare  of  his  country ;  but  while  he  belongs 
among  the  great  doges  for  his  ability,  in  his  per- 
sonal character  not  less  than  in  his  opinions  he  was 
unsafe.  Under  him  Venice  learned  to  prefer  pomp 
to  virtue  and  brilliance  to  wisdom. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI 

The  rulers  of  Milan  on  the  west,  the  Turks  in  the 
Orient,  are  henceforth  shapers  of  the  Republic's 
destiny.  The  Turks  she  had  half-heartedly  tried  to 
restrain,  and  had  failed  ;  the  lurch  to  landward  she 
took  voluntarily.  The  Turks  were  not  content  to 
stay  in  the  East.  Before  ever  capturing  Constanti- 
nople, they  had  pushed  north  to  the  Danube  and 
west  to  the  Adriatic,  and  the  exploits  of  neither 
John  Hunyadi,  the  Magyar  hero,  nor  of  Scander- 
beg,  the  Albanian,  had  permanently  arrested  them. 
Their  treaty  with  the  Venetians  did  not  prevent 
them  from  attempting  the  conquest  of  the  Morea. 
Alvise  Loredan,  Captain-General  of  the  Republic 
there,  made  a  desperate  effort  to  withstand  them ; 
but  although  in  a  fortnight  he  threw  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth  a  wall  twelve  feet  high  and  six 
miles  long,  with  double  ditches  and  one  hundred 
and  thirty-six  towers,  he  could  not  defend  it  (1464). 

Calls  for  a  great  Crusade  resulted  merely  in  dis- 
cussions, until  Pope  Pius  II  took  up  the  project. 
The  Venetians,  warned  by  the  fact  that  they  might 
be  left  to  fight  single-handed,  held  off  from  joining 
the  expedition  until  they  were  assured  that  the 
189 


190  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Duke  of  Burgundy  and  the  King  of  Hungary  would 
take  part  in  it  too.  The  rendezvous  was  Ancona. 
Thither  went  the  Pope  to  await  the  gathering  of 
the  Crusaders.  The  Venetian  contingent,  under 
Doge  Cristoforo  Moro,  arrived  soon  after ;  but  the 
next  day  Pius  II  died  (1464),  from  grief,  it  was 
said,  at  the  failure  of  his  other  allies  to  keep  their 

\  word.  The  Venetians  returned  home,  unwilling  to 
plunge  unsupported  into  a  formal  war. 

Actual  fighting  went  on,  however,  almost  unin- 
terruptedly, at  various  points  in  the  East.  The 
Turks  were  not  only  mighty  in  battle,  but  prudent 
in  preparation.  Their  conquests  had  not  puffed 
them  up  with  overconfidence.  They  were  not 
originally  a  maritime  people ;  but  having  in  their 
conflict  with  the  Christians  found  a  navy  indispen- 
sable, they  learned,  little  by  little,  how  to  build  and 
handle  a  fleet ;  and  now  they  were  getting  ready  an 
immense  armada  to  defeat  the  Venetians  on  their 
own  element.  "  The  Turks  count  on  the  Signory's 
not  being  able  to  arm  more  than  forty  galleys,  and 
they  believe  that  four  or  five  of  their  ships  are  enough 
for  one  of  ours.  They  have  this  temperament, — and 
I  know  it  by  experience  —  that  they  overestimate  their 

'  enemy's  strength,  and  provide  without  stint  for  what  is 
needed.  I  wish  our  people  would  do  likewise."  So 
wrote,  in  1464,  Antonio  Michiel,  a  Venetian  mer- 
chant at  Constantinople.  But  Venice,  saddled  with 
debt,  and  devoting  more  than  half  of  her  power  to 

^  protect  and  increase  her  Italian  dominion,  could 
neither  equip  an  adequate  fleet  nor  concentrate  her 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  191 

whole  energy  to  crush  the  Ottomans.  At  Negro- 
pont  (1470)  the  Turkish  navy  showed  what  it  could 
do.  Niccolo  da  Canale,  the  Venetian  admiral,  set 
out  to  disperse  it  and  to  relieve  the  city,  which 
was  being  besieged  by  land  and  water;  but  when 
he  saw  the  four  hundred  ships  flying  the  crescent 
ensign,  he  hesitated  to  attack  them  without  rein- 
forcements ;  and  so  the  Turks  took  Negropont,  and 
Canale  bore  the  ignominy  of  being  beaten  in  an 
unfought  battle.  Immense  was  the  alarm  at  Venice 
over  this  loss  —  and  with  reason. 

During  the  succeeding  nine  years  there  was  little 
respite  in  the  strife  with  the  Turks.  Venice  had 
her  successes,  but  in  the  main  the  tide  turned 
against  her.  The  outbreak  of  a  war  in  Persia 
seemed  to  offer  a  chance  to  smite  the  Sultan  front 
and  rear ;  but  the  Persians  too  quickly  succumbed. 
Appeals  to  brother  Christians  met  with  the  usual 
no  ;  the  Venetian  envoys  found  them  "  chilled,  nay 
benumbed."  More  than  one  peace  overture  the 
Turks  rejected.  Among  many  examples  of  gallantry 
that  of  Antonio  Loredano,  who  commanded  Scutari 
in  a  desperate  siege,  merits  never  to  be  forgotten. 
"If  you  are  hungry,"  he  said  to  the  famished  citizens, 
"  feed  on  my  flesh ;  if  you  are  thirsty,  drink  my 
blood."  Inspired  by  such  heroism,  they  held  out 
(1473).  A  few  years  later,  however,  in  a  second 
siege,  the  brave  city  had  to  surrender,  and  the  Ee- 
public,  by  ceding  other  places  in  Albania  and  the 
Morea,  and  by  paying  ten  thousand  ducats  a  year 
for  permission  to  continue  her  trade  in  Constanti- 


192  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

nople,  secured  a  breathing  spell  from  her  disastrous 
war  (1479). 

She  squandered  it  in  renewing  her  continental 
encroachments.  She  attacked  the  Marquis  of  Fer- 
rara,  hoping  that  by  annexing  his  land  she  might  off- 
set her  losses  in  the  Levant.  But  the  Pope,  Sixtus 
IV,  sided  with  the  Marquis,  and  issued  an  interdict, 
which  the  Signory  forbade  to  be  published  within 
its  domains.  The  Pope  and  the  Marquis  then  re- 
sorted to  mundane  means,  which  proved  more 
effectual.  Venice,  unable  to  make  front  against  the 
coalition  which  they  formed  with  the  King  of  Naples 
and  with  Milan,  agreed  to  a  peace  in  which  Eovigo 
and  the  Polesine  were  her  only  compensation  for  a 
costly  war  (1484). 

Italy  had  reached,  by  this  time,  that  state  of 
hysteria  which  precedes  utter  collapse.  We  can  no 
more  discover  a  unifying  political  principle  in  the 
wild  changes  of  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  than 
in.the  writhings  of  a  jarful  of  leeches.  Unrestrained 
selfishness  impels  each,  and  explains  each  momen- 
tary combination  and  frantic  revulsion.  Still,  we 
can  discern  two  elements  which,  contrasted  with  the 
general  condition,  appear  constant.  The  first  is 
the  interference  of  foreign  monarchs  in  the  affairs 
of  Italy ;  the  second  is  the  growing  hatred  of  both 
foreigners  and  Italians  for  Venice. 

The  endless  feuds  of  city  with  city,  the  competi- 
tion of  tyrant  with  tyrant,  had  reduced  the  Italians 
to  the  point  where  they  called  in  the  foreigner  to 
help  them  against  their  rivals,  to  the  certain  jeop- 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  193 

ardy  of  their  own  political  existence.  And  the 
foreigners  came,  just  as,  a  thousand  years  before, 
their  Goth  and  Vandal  and  Hunnish  ancestors 
came,  to  glut  themselves  on  the  land,  which,  despite 
the  ravages  of  man,  was  still  the  richest  and  has 
ever  been  the  fairest.  The  Holy  Eoman  Empire  — 
which  virtually  means  Austria — had  an  immemorial 
excuse  for  interfering.  The  Spaniards  had  estab- 
lished an  intermittent  control  over  Sicily  in  1282 
and  over  Naples  in  1442.  The  French  held  Genoa 
by  a  slippery  tenure,  and  through  the  marriage  of 
Valentina  Visconti  they  laid  claim  to  the  Duchy  of 
Milan.  Italy  was  soon  to  become,  therefore,  not 
only  the  battlefield  of  her  own  warring  states,  but 
of  France,  Spain,  and  the  Empire,  —  the  three  great 
powers  which  were  entering  on  their  long  struggle 
for  the  mastery  of  Western  Europe.  In  Italy, 
except  Venice,  the  Papacy  was  the  only  political 
organism  of  ancient  date.  Its  double,  the  Roman 
Church,  had  gone  bankrupt,  through  its  fatal  separa- 
tion of  conduct  from  religion,  making  piety  to  con- 
sist in  performing  arbitrary  clerical  rules  instead  of 
in  leading  a  good  life.  The  elevation  to  the  Papal 
throne  of  Rodriguez  Borgia,  —  Pope  Alexander  VI, 
—  who  most  nearly  embodied  absolute  wickedness 
of  any  monster  in  the  annals  of  human  depravity,  — 
marked  the  moral  failure  of  Roman  Christianity ; 
and  as  the  Church  lost  its  hold  on  men's  consciences, 
its  temporal  side,  the  Papacy,  struggled  to  create 
for  itself  a  worldly  kingdom  to  vie  with  those  of  the 
godless  rulers  of  Italy  and  the  North. 


194  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

The  general  hostility  toward  Venice  sprang  from 
many  causes.  Some  hated  her  because  of  her  long- 
lasting  prosperity.  The  princelings  who  came  and 
went  like  leaves  swept  by  autumn  gusts  hated  her 
because  she  stood  unshaken  through  all  political 
storms.  Some  feared  that  she  would  pursue  her 
policy  of  aggrandizement  to  despoil  them,  and  this 
fear  turned  to  hate.  Some  were  sore  over  past  de- 
feats, or  hoped  to  win  back  a  lost  province,  or  to' 
pay  off  a  rankling  grievance,  and  so  they  hated. 
And  Venice  for  her  part  did  little  to  propitiate  her 
ill  wishers.  She  carried  herself  with  haughtiness 
among  them,  making  no  more  effort  than  the  mod- 
ern Britisher  to  dissemble  the  belief  in  her  own 
superiority.  Like  England,  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  she  had  not  a  friend  in  the 
world,  not  a  neighbor  who  would  not  have  rejoiced 
secretly  to  see  her  humbled.  In  the  case  of  Venice, 
at  least,  such  hatred  overlooked  her  great  service  to 
the  common  Christian  welfare  in  attempting  to  hold 
back  the  Turk.  She  was  selfish,  but  so  was  every 
state ;  she  indisputably  gave  her  subjects  the  best 
government  then  in  the  world ;  but  this  did  not  lessen 
her  rivals'  envy.  As  early  as  1467  Duke  Sforza,  in 
an  interview  with  the  Venetian  envoy,  Gonella, 
warned  him  of  the  general  malevolence  toward 
the  Venetians.  "  You  are  alone,"  he  said,  "  and  you 
have  everybody  against  you,  not  only  in  Italy,  but 
beyond  the  Alps.  Be  very  sure  that  your  enemies 
are  not  asleep."  That  a  "  nation  of  shopkeepers  " 
should  have  risen  so  high,  was  an  added  insult  to 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  195 

aristocracies  in  other  lands  which  assumed  that  a 
patriciate  was  inconsistent  with  trade.  "  The  King 
of  Hungary  resents  having  his  affairs  settled  by  a 
parcel  of  merchants,"  said  the  Sultan  to  a  Venetian 
instructed  to  negotiate  a  peace. 

This  hatred  was  of  course  a  tribute  to  the  strength 
of  Venice  —  men  do  not  hate  a  weakling.  And  not- 
withstanding her  damaging  conflict  with  the  Turk 
and  her  costly  enterprises  on  Terra  Firma,  she  ap- 
peared at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  a  first- 
rate  power,  of  unlimited  resources.  Her  public 
debt  was  large,  but  at  that  time  the  state  of  a 
nation's  treasury  was  no  sure  measure  of  a  nation's 
wealth.  To  contemporaries  much  of  her  warring 
in  the  East  must  have  seemed  but  the  faint  echo 
of  far-off  brawls,  like  the  modern  British  wars  in 
India,  in  which,  nevertheless,  an  empire  was  being 
lost  and  won.  Monarchs  and  politicians  were 
amazed  by  the  solidity  of  her  government,  which 
they  sought  to  equal,  only  to  find  that  the  secret 
lay  neither  in  the  despotism,  nor  craft,  nor  hosts  of 
hirelings,  nor  extensive  dominions :  these  might 
bring  ascendency  for  a  season  or  a  lifetime,  but  not 
that  continuous  transmission  of  vigor  which  made 
Venice  unique. 

The  acquisition  of  Cyprus  in  1488  seemed  more 
than  to  compensate  for  losses  in  the  Levant.  It 
came  about  through  the  businesslike  foresight  and 
sharp  practice  of  the  Signory,  and  if  a  beautiful 
woman  had  not  been  involved  in  it,  the  details  of 
the   transaction   would    hardly   have    appealed  to 


196  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

artists  and  romancers.  Cyprus  belonged  to  the 
Lusignan  family,  of  whom  the  last  king,  Giacomo, 
married  Caterina  Cornaro,  of  old  Venetian  noble 
stock,  who  was  officially  adopted  as  "  the  daughter 
of  the  Eepublic"  (1471).  Within  two  years  Gia- 
como died,  —  poisoned,  the  hostile  whispered,  by 
the  Signory's  agents,  —  and  the  son  whom  Caterina 
bore  after  his  death  lived  only  a  short  time.  Again 
the  hostile  hinted  of  poison.  Eebels  invaded  the 
palace  and  slew  the  Queen's  doctor  and  lackey  be- 
fore her  eyes,  and  despatched  her  uncle  and  her 
cousin  in  their  quarters  near  by.  Venice  interfered 
to  preserve  order,  and  to  keep  back  other  claimants 
to  Cyprus.  This  tutelage  lasted  fifteen  years ;  but 
it  became  too  precarious.  There  was  the  risk  that 
Caterina,  beautiful  and  still  young,  might  marry. 
The  Signory  urged  her  to  abdicate,  but  she  resisted 
as  long  as  she  could.  When  she  realized  that  they 
intended  to  remove  her  even  without  her  consent, 
she  yielded,  and  gave  up  to  Venice  her  island  king- 
dom. The  Eepublic,  having  gained  its  end,  treated 
her  with  the  utmost  honor,  granting  her  a  large 
annuity,  a  palace  in  Venice,  and  the  town  and  sub- 
urbs of  Asolo.  Her  coming  was  a  pageant,  and  so 
\}  was  her  departure.  At  her  little  court  she  wel- 
comed the  best  intellects  of  her  time.  She  died  in 
1510,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  proudly  signing  herself 
to  the  last,  "  Queen  of  Cyprus,  Jerusalem,  and  Ar- 
menia, Lady  of  Asolo."  The  memory  of  her  beauty 
and  grace,  touched  but  not  impaired  by  misfortune, 
still  glows  after  these  many  centuries.     As  a  politi- 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  197 

cal  transaction,  the  winning  of  Cyprus  by  such 
means  was  far  more  profitable  than  conquest  by 
war  had  been ;  tlie  immorality  of  it,  if  the  Signory 
were  guilty  of  the  crimes  imputed,  needs  no  com- 
ment. The  new  possession  made  Venice  opulent, 
and  therefore  more  enviable,  in  the  eyes  of  her 
rivals. 

Caterina  Cornaro  resigned  her  throne  in  1488. 
The  year  before  there  occurred  the  first  event  in  a 
fateful  series  which  foreboded  to  Venice  something 
of  far  deeper  concern  than  the  loss  or  gain  of  Cyprus. 
Dias  discovered  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1487,  and 
stimulated  that  passion  for  navigation  which  ten 
years  later  brought  Vasco  da  Gama's  caravel  into 
the  port  of  Calicut.  Meanwhile,  Columbus,  Cabot, 
and  Vespucci,  seeking  India,  had  found  the  New 
World  by  sailing  westward.  The  meaning  of  these 
discoveries  was  soon  understood  by  a  few  of  the 
Venetians,  although  nobody  could  then  foresee  that 
it  was  the  revelation  of  America,  and  not  the  easier 
access  to  India,  which  would  revolutionize  history. 
On  Venice  the  passage  round  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  wrought  irremediable  injury.  It  created  new 
channels  for  commerce,  new  political  and  social 
conditions,  which  the  Venetians  could  not  command. 
Speaking  very  broadly,  her  fate  was  like  that  of  a 
great  city  which  flourishes  a  thousand  years  on  the 
banks  of  a  mighty  river,  until  an  earthquake  comes 
and  shatters  the  country,  turning  the  river  into 
another  valley,  and  leaving  the  city  to  perish  very 
slowly.     The  discovery  of  the  waterway  to  India 


198  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

turned  the  stream  of  Oriental  commerce  irrevocably 
away  from  Venice. 

At  first  she  felt  the  change  chiefly  as  a  menace. 
With  astonishing  enterprise,  the  Portuguese  organ- 

\  ized  their  trading  fleets,  and  made  Lisbon  the  mart 
for  the  spices,  the  jewels,  the  rich  cloths,  and  the  cot- 
tons of  India.  In  spite  of  the  length  and  danger 
of  the  voyage,  it  cost  far  less  to  bring  these  prod- 
ucts by  sea  than  to  carry  them  overland  to  the  sea- 

[  board  of  Egypt  or  Syria,  and  thence  to  ship  them 
to  Venice.  Losses  from  robbers  and  toll-exacting 
rulers  exceeded  many  times  the  losses  by  ship- 
wreck; and  Lisbon,  as  the  distributing  point  for 
the  trading  ports  of  Western  Europe,  had  a  great 
advantage  in  distance  over  Venice.  With  safety, 
cheapness,  and  distance  in  their  favor,  the  Portu- 
guese must  inevitably  outstrip  the  Venetians,  who 

\  would  not  try  the  Cape  route  themselves,  because 
they  did  not  control  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar.  ,  For 
fear  of  irritating  the  Soldan  of  Egypt,  with  whom 
they  had  a  treaty  for  the  passage  of  their  Oriental 
caravans  through  his  country,  they  did  not,  like 
their  rivals,  establish  a  factory  at  Lisbon.  Wisely 
managed,  enough  remained  to  them  in  the  Levantine 
'trade  to  assure  prosperity:  but  the  preeminence  of 
Venice  had  departed;  she  might  be  henceforth  the 
chief  commercial  nation  of  the  Adriatic  and  the 
^gean,  and  of  the  neighboring  lands,  but  she  could 
never  again  be  paramount  in  the  commerce  of  the 
world.  As  her  geographical  isolation  had  deter- 
mined her  rise  to  empire,  so  geographical  considera- 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  199 

tions  foredoomed  her  to  decay.  The  new  conditions 
came  through  no  fault  of  hers,  and  could  no  more 
be  predicted  than  we  can  to-day  predict  the  revolu- 
tions which  would  occur  if  man  should  succeed  in 
opening  commercial  relations  with  the  dwellers  on 
Mars. 

For  a  long  time,  however,  the  ultimate  bearing  of 
the  changed  conditions  lay  in  the  background,  while 
political  quarrels  of  comparatively  slight  signifi- 
cance loomed  very  large  in  front.  Wars,  which  al- 
ways distort  the  vision,  came  to  confuse  the  main 
issue.  In  1494  Lodovico  Sforza  invited  Charles 
VIII  of  France  to  descend  into  Italy  and  secure 
to  him  the  Duchy  of  Milan.  Charles  came,  and 
marched  to  Naples,  where  he  subdued  King  Alfonso, 
Sforza's  chief  foe.  With  greed  whetted  by  this  con- 
quest, Charles  showed  signs  of  intending  to  turn 
on  his  friend  Sforza  and  of  appropriating  Milan. 
Sforza  in  desperation  appealed  to  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian, to  Spain,  and  to  Venice,  to  form  a  league 
against  their  common  enemy.  If  Charles  remained 
master  of  both  Naples  and  Milan,  he  urged,  who 
could  prevent  him  from  conquering  the  Peninsula  ? 
The  allies  intercepted  the  French  at  Fornovo,  on 
their  way  south,  put  to  flight  their  army,  and  ought 
to  have  captured  Charles  himself,  if  they  had  not 
been  too  thirsty  for  booty  (July  6,  1495).  Eid  of 
the  French  invader,  the  Italians  looked  suspiciously 
on  the  Emperor:  but  Maximilian  was  just  then 
too  poor  to  put  a  large  army  in  the  field.  In  1498 
Charles    VIII    died.      His    successor,   Louis   XII, 


200  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

inherited  claims  to  both  Naples  and  Milan  and 
prepared  to  oust  Sforza  from  his  duchy.  This  time 
Venice  cast  her  lot  with  the  French.  Sforza  craftily 
stirred  up  the  Turks  to  assail  the  Venetians  in  the 
rear.  At  Sapienza,  spot  of  ill  omen,  the  Turkish 
fleet  encountered  the  Venetians  under  Antonio 
Grimani,  whose  grip  slackened  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment, and  brought  on  a  total  defeat  (August  25, 
1502).  Stripped  of  her  navy,  Venice  was  forced  to 
sue  for  peace ;  which  was  not  granted  before  the 
Venetians  had  seen  from  their  belfries  the  smoke  of 
the  towns  which  the  Turkish  ravagers  were  burning 
in  Friuli.  To  her  envoy,  as  he  took  his  leave,  the 
Grand  Vizier  said,  with  insolence  which  had  to  be 
swallowed,  "  Venice  has  wedded  the  sea  up  to  the 
present ;  in  future,  it  will  be  our  turn,  for  we  have 
more  at  stake  on  the  sea  than  you  have." 

To  call  the  Turk  in  to  help  Christian  against 
Christian  became  the  practice  of  Catholics  and 
Protestants  alike.  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  it  was  the  English  who,  for  equally  selfish 
ends,  kept  unburied  the  carcass  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  to  pollute  the  air  of  Southeastern  Europe. 

Venice  made  terms  with  the  Sultan  not  a  moment 
too  soon,  since  there  was  now  weaving  round  her  a 
danger  more  terrible  than  any  she  had  known  since 
the  Chioggian  War:  her  many  haters  and  enviers 
were  on  the  point  of  forming  a  coalition  against  her. 
Her  safety  had  once  lain  in  holding  aloof,  or  in 
playing  one  of  her  rivals  against  another.  She 
could  do  neither  now ;  and  although  she  had  unmis- 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  201 

takable  warning  that  the  world  was  indeed  against 
her,  she  failed  to  act  with  even  common  discretion. 
Pope  Alexander  VI  died  August  8,  1503;  within 
a  month,  the  Eepublic  had  taken  steps  to  annex 
some  of  the  Papal  cities  of  Eomagna  and  the 
Marches.  "  Work  with  all  celerity,  circumspection, 
and  secrecy,"  was  her  order  to  her  agents ;  and  by 
November,  when  Julius  II  had  succeeded  to  the 
Holy  See,  after  the  three  weeks'  pontificate  of  Pius 
III,  the  men  of  St.  Mark  were  in  control  of  Faenza, 
Cesena,  Urbino  (which  Duke  Guidobaldo  himself 
placed  under  the  protection  of  Venice),  and  other 
towns. 

Julius  II,  violent,  able,  and  pugnacious,  should 
have  been  monarch  of  one  of  the  great  kingdoms, 
and  not  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ;  the  Eoman 
princedom  offered  too  narrow  a  field  for  his  worldly 
ambition.  He  proposed  to  aggrandize  the  States  of 
the  Church  and  to  drive  the  "  barbarians  "  —  the 
French,  the  Spaniards,  and  the  Germans  —  out  of 
Italy.  These  two  aims  might  have  been  harmo- 
nized had  not  Julius  been  so  eager  to  strengthen  the 
Papacy  first,  that  he  lost  his  chance  of  ever  ousting 
the  barbarians.  He  set  his  heart  on  winning  back 
the  fiefs  which  had  been  lost  under  his  predeces- 
sors, and  with  this  in  view  he  called  on  the  Vene- 
tians to  make  restitution.  The  Signory  protested 
that  they  had  come  by  their  new  lands  fairly,  that 
they  would  willingly  pay  the  Pope  taxes  on  them, 
but  that  they  would  never  give  them  up,  "  if  they 
had  to  spend  down  to  the  very  foundations  of  their 


202  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

houses."    Julius  smothered  his  wrath,  while  he  cast 
about  for  means  to  strike  effectively. 

In  the  autumn  of  1504  Louis  XII  of  France  and 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  made  a  secret  treaty  at 
Blois,  their  principal  object  being  to  attack  Venice 
and  divide  between  them  her  mainland  provinces. 
Julius  was  a  partner  in  this  enterprise.  Venice  got 
wind  of  the  plot  and  adopted  a  conciliatory  policy. 
She  even  restored  some  of  the  Papal  territory,  so 
that  Julius  spoke  of  her  people  as  "  good  and  very 
dear  children  of  the  Apostolic  See."  The  three 
years  ensuing  witnessed  an  uninterrupted  cam- 
paign of  craft.  The  conspirators,  whose  only  com- 
mon bond  was  hatred  of  the  Eepublic,  came  several 
times  to  the  verge  of  a  quarrel  among  themselves; 
whilst  Venice  endeavored  to  ingratiate  herself  with 
now  one  and  now  another.  Such  a  struggle  has 
probably  never  been  seen  since,  because  Europe  has 
never  had  so  many  masters  of  craft  pitted  against 
each  other  at  one  time.  Ferdinand  of  Spain, 
Louis  XII  of  France,  Maximilian  of  Germany,  and 
Julius  II  were  equals  in  cunning  and  in  unscrupu- 
lousness ;  and  the  Venetian  Signory,  certainly  not 
a  novice  in  guile,  met  in  them  more  than  a  match. 
After  the  conspirators  had  exploited  various  schemes 
against  each  other,  they  fell  back  on  their  plot 
against  Venice. 

At  Cambrai  their  envoys  met  and  formed  that 
league  which  stands  as  the  crown  of  infamy  in 
an  age  when  political  infamy  was  the  common  rule. 
The  manifesto  of  Maximilian  (January  6, 1509)  an- 


rs  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  203 

nounced  that  the  allies  would  put  an  end  to  "  the 
losses,  the  insults,  the  rapine,  the  injuries,  of  which 
Venice  was  guilty."  "  We  have  found  it  not  only- 
useful  and  honorable,"  the  Emperor  concluded, 
"  but  even  necessary  to  summon  all  to  a  just  ven- 
geance, to  extinguish,  as  if  it  were  a  general  con- 
flagration, the  insatiable  cupidity  of  the  Venetians, 
and  their  thirst  for  dominion."  And  as  proof  of 
disinterestedness,  each  ally  stipulated  what  his 
share  of  the  Venetian  spoils  should  be :  the  Pope 
bespoke  Rimini,  Ravenna,  Faenza ;  the  Emperor, 
Istria,  Eriuli,  the  Trevisan,  and  all  westward  to 
Verona;  Louis  XII,  Bergamo,  Brescia,  and  the 
former  dependencies  of  the  Duchy  of  Milan ;  the 
King  of  Spain,  Otranto,  Brindisi,  and  other  towns  in 
South  Italy  which  he  had  pledged  to  Venice.  They 
agreed  that  if  they  could  persuade  the  King  of 
Hungary  to  join,  he  should  receive  Dalmatia.  They 
tempted  the  Duke  of  Savoy  with  the  offer  of 
Cyprus,  and  the  Marquis  of  Eerrara  and  the  Duke 
of  Mantua  with  promises  of  independence.  There 
was  unlimited  plunder,  and  everybody  might  share 
it  by  turning  brigand,  brigandage  being  a  most 
respectable  profession,  practiced  by  the  Vicar  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  kings  who  called  themselves 
« the  most  Christian  "  and  "  the  Catholic." 

Diplomacy  having  failed,  Venice  prepared  reso- 
lutely for  war.  Whatever  her  sins  might  be,  she 
was  never  a  coward.  Her  rich  and  her  poor  rallied 
to  her  defense.  Doge  Leonardo  Loredano,  having 
given  the  customary  ducal  banquet  on  the  feast  of 


204  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

St.  Mark,  sent  his  plate  to  the  mint.  Two  generals, 
D'Alviano  and  Pitigliano,  were  set  in  command  of 
the  army,  which  was  quickly  recruited  to  block  the 
march  of  the  French,  but  at  Agnadello  they  were 
overwhelmed  (May  14,  1509).  The  French  pressed 
on,  conquering  town  after  town.  From  the  north 
Maximilian's  troops  poured  into  Friuli.  From  the 
south  came  the  Pope's  levies.  Julius  II,  weaker 
than  his  allies  in  temporal  soldiers,  resorted  to 
ecclesiastical  weapons,  and  launched  an  interdict 
which  the  Signory  prevented  from  being  published 
in  Venice.  To  retaliate,  the  Signory  issued  an  ap- 
peal to  a  Church  council,  and  through  the  adroitness 
of  their  messengers  their  manifesto  was  actually 
posted  on  the  doors  of  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome.  But  this 
did  not  heal  the  wound  which  the  Pope's  thrust  had 
made.  By  June,  1509,  the  Papal  forces  had  re- 
covered most  of  the  places  which  Julius  coveted, 
and  the  French  had  advanced  east  of  Brescia.  The 
Republic  being  unable  to  defend  her  cities,  —  there 
is  a  legend  that  she  released  them  from  their  alle- 
giance, —  many  of  them  surrendered  at  discretion 
to  the  invaders.  Treviso,  however,  held  out,  and 
Padua  endured  bravely  a  siege  by  Maximilian's 
army,  which  had  to  retire  baffled  and  discredited. 

Never  was  a  gallant  nation  nearer  destruction 
than  Venice  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1509. 
With  the  "  whole  world  against  her,"  her  armies 
beaten,  her  provinces  wrenched  away,  she  seemed 
more  than  once  about  to  founder  in  the  great  gulf. 
But  she  paused  neither  in  her  efforts  to  improvise 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  205 

armies  nor  in  her  diplomatic  endeavors.  To  fol- 
low in  detail  the  intrigues  which  each  party  to  the 
war  carried  on,  is  to  sound  the  depths  of  political 
depravity  and  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  the  state- 
craft which  Machiavelli  teaches  in  The  Prince.  If 
Venice  could  have  defended  herself  for  only  a  few 
months,  she  might  have  counted  on  her  enemies 
quarreling  among  themselves  ;  but  her  early  military 
disaster  left  her  too  soon  at  their  mercy.  In  her 
desperation,  she  did  not  scruple  to  implore  the  Turk 
to  come  to  her  rescue  —  an  appeal  which  bore  no 
fruit,  but  which  reveals  the  complete  breakdown  of 
international  morals.  That  breakdown  was  the 
last  stage  in  the  decay  of  Eoman  Christianity. 
When  a  Pope,  in  order  to  regain  worldly  posses- 
sions, stooped  to  partnership  with  brigands,  and  did 
not  blush  to  employ  spiritual  means  to  gain  political 
ends,  it  was  only  natural  that  his  victim,  who  pro- 
fessed reverence  for  him  as  head  of  her  Church, 
should  call  in  an  Infidel,  a  Mohammedan,  whose 
dearest  wish  was  to  annihilate  all  Christians.  Con- 
tradictions so  monstrous  imply  chaos,  —  social,  moral, 
religious  chaos,  —  the  dissolution  of  the  elementary 
ties  which  bind  man  to  man  and  state  to  state. 

Although  Julius  had  been  the  most  violent  of 
her  assailants,  he  was  the  first  to  relent.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1510,  having  recovered  his  temporal  possessions 
and  forced  Venice  to  renounce  the  ecclesiastical  in- 
dependence which  she  had  boasted  for  a  thousand 
years,  he  made  peace  with  her.  The  French,  whom 
he  had  urged  to  cross  the  Alps  the  year  before,  he 


206  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

now  hoped  to  drive  back  again,  by  forming  a  new- 
coalition,  —  "  The  Holy  League,"  —  which  he  per- 
suaded Spain  and  Venice  to  join.  The  brunt  of 
the  devastation  fell  on  Venice.  Vicenza  had  al- 
ready suffered  from  the  atrocities  of  the  French ; 
six  thousand  fugitives,  consisting  chiefly  of  women 
and  children,  sought  refuge  in  an  old  quarry,  and 
the  French  started  a  fire  at  its  mouth,  suffocating 
them  all.  Brescia,  taken  after  a  gallant  siege,  was 
given  over  to  indescribable  horrors.  But  neither 
the  Spanish  general,  Cardona,  nor  the  Venetian 
captains  could  make  head  against  the  great  talents 
of  Gaston  de  Foix.  Fortunately  for  the  League,  he 
was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Ravenna  (April  11, 1512), 
and  without  his  guidance,  the  French  campaign 
collapsed.  The  logical  moment  for  a  general  peace 
had  come,  but,  in  spite  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
French  from  the  valley  of  the  Po,  there  was  no 
peace:  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  who  had  joined 
the  Holy  League,  insisted  on  keeping  the  prisoners 
he  had  captured ;  the  Spaniards  had  had  their  am- 
bition fired  to  succeed  the  French  in  the  Duchy  of 
Milan ;  the  Pope,  clutching  his  own  conquests,  was 
hardly  the  best  arbiter  to  persuade  his  allies  to  re- 
linquish theirs. 

Julius  II  died  February  21,  1513,  and  a  month 
later  Venice  signed  at  Blois  a  treaty  with  France. 
Turning  back  to  her  old  policy,  the  Republic  allied 
herself  with  the  power  which  she  deemed  the 
weakest,  and  so  the  least  likely  to  harm  her.  She 
soon   learned  that  neutrality  would  have   been  a 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  207 

better  choice :  for  the  new  army  which  Louis  XII 
sent  into  Italy  was  beaten  at  Novara  (June  6, 1513) ; 
and  the  Venetian  mercenaries,  overmatched  and  left 
without  allies,  were  brushed  aside  by  Cardona,  who 
actually  planted  his  cannon  at  Malghera  and  fired 
on  Venice  herself.  The  Lagoon  proved  so  sure  a 
defense,  that  she  could  watch  without  anxiety  the 
taunting  shots  fall  short ;  but  her  pride  was  hum- 
bled at  seeing  the  Spaniards  ravage  the  mainland, 
which  she  had  no  means  to  protect.  In  1515 
Francis  I,  who  had  succeeded  Louis  XII  as  king 
of  France,  marched  into  Italy  and,  by  the  victory 
of  Marignano  (September  14,  1515),  won  back  the 
Milanese.  The  next  year  peace  was  signed  at 
Brussels  between  Francis  and  Charles,  the  new 
king  of  Spain;  then  the  Venetians,  by  buying  a 
five  years'  truce  of  Emperor  Maximilian,  who  was 
always  more  greedy  of  money  than  of  military  glory, 
at  last  could  breathe. 

The  Seven  Years'  War  had  all  but  ruined  the 
Republic.  It  unmasked  the  fatal  weakness  of  her 
position  on  Terra  Firma.  It  taught  her  that  a  sea- 
faring nation,  which  aspired  to  rank  as  a  land  power 
also,  and  relied  on  mercenaries  for  its  defense,  was 
throwing  away  the  secret  of  its  strength.  It  was 
but  a  barren  satisfaction  to  reflect  that  it  required 
the  mightiest  coalition  which  Western  Europe  had 
seen  since  Charlemagne's  time  to  drag  her  down 
from  the  zenith. 

The  League  of  Cambrai  revealed  the  absolute 
corruption  of  the  Eenaissance  political  methods  and 


208  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

ideals.  The  kings  of  the  great  powers,  and  the 
Roman  Pontiff  himself,  had  not  risen  above  the 
level  of  the  unspeakable  petty  despots  of  the  pre- 
ceding century.  They  abased  Venice,  but  when,  as 
the  result  of  his  league  against  her,  Italy  was  left 
permanently  the  prey  of  the  Spaniards  and  the 
French,  how  hollow  sounded  Julius  the  Second's 
cry,  "  Out  with  the  barbarians  !  "  In  first  crippling 
Venice,  Julius  wasted  the  only  Italian  state  strong 
enough  to  lead  a  coalition  which  might  possibly 
have  kept  the  barbarians  from  entering  the  Penin- 
sula. To  let  in  a  flood  by  deliberately  breaking  a 
dam,  and  then  to  seize  a  broom  to  try  to  sweep  it 
out,  describes  the  procedure,  and  measures  the 
political  sagacity,  of  Julius  II. 

Amid  the  tangle  of  duplicity,  cruelty,  and  greed, 
one  noble  thread  appears :  the  cities  and  towns  of 
the  mainland  resumed  voluntarily  their  allegiance 
to  Venice,  as  fast  as  they  were  free  to  choose. 
That  act  is  the  highest  praise  of  her  government. 
The  boundaries  of  the  Eepublic  reached,  as  of  old, 
to  the  Adda  on  the  west,  but  the  sense  of  security 
had  gone.  Francis  and  Charles  were  contending 
for  the  mastery  of  the  Continent,  and  as  Italy  was 
^  both  the  scene  and  the  object  of  much  of  their 
'^  fighting,  Venice  would  not  remain  neutral.  Al- 
though Francis  lost  at  the  battle  of  Pavia  (1525), 
she  joined  him  in  the  League  of  Cognac  (1526), 
which  brought  her  no  equivalent  for  the  million 
and  a  half  ducats  it  cost  her. 

An  inscrutable  Providence  had  cogged  the  dice 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  209 

in  favor  of  Spain.  The  year  1492  saw  the  Spanish 
conquest  of  the  Moors,  the  discovery  of  the  New- 
World  by  an  expedition  which  planted  there  the 
banner  of  Spain,  and  the  election  of  the  Span- 
iard, Borgia,  to  the  Papal  throne.  Within  the  next 
thirty  years,  Spain  rose,  by  cunning,  or  chance,  or 
war,  to  the  primacy  of  Christendom,  which  she  held 
until  her  Armada  was  shattered  by  the  admirals 
of  Elizabeth  (1588).  The  primacy  of  Spain  meant 
a  century  of  blight :  it  meant  the  rank  flowering  of 
the  Inquisition  and  the  organizing  of  Jesuitry  by 
Spaniards,  the  Spanish  attempt  to  crush  out  forever 
the  ideals  of  liberty,  the  perpetration  by  Spanish 
generals  and  rulers  of  uncounted  atrocities  in 
Europe  and  America,  the  establishment  by  Span- 
iards in  America  of  the  most  corrupt  and  cruel 
of  modern  colonial  systems,  and  the  degradation  of 
the  Spaniards  themselves  into  merciless  fanatics, 
court  puppets,  and  cloddish  peasants.  The  fright- 
ful potency  of  immense  wealth  to  brutalize  was 
never  shown  more  clearly  than  in  the  case  of  the 
Spanish  grandees,  on  whom  were  showered  the  riches 
of  Mexico  and  Peru,  of  the  East  Indies  and  the 
West.  Can  it  be  said  of  any  other  nation  which  has 
held  the  ascendant  that  it  added  nothing  in  science, 
in  invention,  in  manners,  in  politics,  in  philosophy, 
or  in  religion,  to  human  progress  ?  What  the 
Turk  was  among  Asiatics,  such  was  the  Spaniard 
among  Europeans.  Ferdinand,  Charles,  Philip, — 
these  are  the  monarchs  of  Imperial  Spain ;  Torque- 
mada,  Loyola,  Alba,  —  these  are  the  incarnation  of 


210  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  Spanish  character  at  prime.  In  return  for  the 
check  she  dealt  to  human  progress,  and  for  the 
incomputable  sum  of  injustice,  ignorance,  misery, 
and  pain  charged  against  her,  Spain  has  given  the 
world  one  humorist,  one  dramatist,  and  one  painter 
—  the  products  of  her  decline. 

It  was  this  power,  Spain,  which  the  long  wars 
set  in  motion  by  the  League  of  Cambrai  made 
supreme  in  Italy.  The  Peace  of  Bologna,  between 
Charles  V  and  Francis  I,  restored  a  Sforza  to  the 
Duchy  of  Milan,  under  the  pretense  of  maintaining 
a  theoretical  balance  of  power  between  the  contend- 
ing interests.  A  line  of  bastard  Medici  was  en- 
throned in  Florence.  The  Spanish  Kingdom  of 
the  Two  Sicilies  dominated  the  south.  The  family 
of  Farnese  were  soon  to  control  the  Holy  See  — 
Paul  III  was  elected  in  1534  —  and  to  plant  duchies 
in  Parma  and  Piacenza.  Except  at  Venice,  no  inde- 
pendent Italian  government  was  left  standing  in 
Italy.  The  barbarians  possessed  the  Peninsula 
and  reduced  it  to  a  condition  of  servitude  from 
which  it  was  not  wholly  redeemed  until  1870. 

We  often  say  of  a  man  who  survives  a  terrible 
ordeal,  "He  entered  upon  it  young,  and  he  came 
out  of  it  old."  So  it  was  with  Venice  after  the 
League  of  Cambrai.  Externally,  her  territory  was 
almost  unchanged;  but  potentially,  she  had  sunk 
from  first  to  second  rank.  Had  this  been  due 
merely  to  an  unsuccessful  war,  she  might  have  re- 
covered her  position,  as  France  did ;  but  it  was  due 
to  the  fact  that  there  had  risen  into  being  a  new 


IX  THE  CRISIS  OF  CAMBRAI  211 

world-order  in  which  no  state,  however  prosperous, 
could  rule  Western  Europe  from  the  head  of  the 
Adriatic.  The  age  of  the  great  monarchies  had 
come.  The  stream  of  commerce,  which  had  been 
the  lifeblood  of  Venice,  flowed  now  through  other 
seas.  Her  geographical  position,  which  in  the 
earlier  world-order  was  the  cause  of  her  unique 
growth,  doomed  her  to  a  leisurely  decline.  The  dis- 
covery of  America  and  of  the  Cape  passage  to  India 
warned  her  that  a  new  commercial  era  was  dawn- 
ing over  Western  Europe.  Eor  a  thousand  years 
she  had  successfully  steered  clear  of  dangerous  ri- 
vals on  the  mainland ;  neither^Pope  nor  Emperor  nor 
ephemeral  tyrant  could  do  her  permanent  harm; 
but  henceforth  she  had  as  neighbors  the  satellites 
of  Spain,  a  power  that  she  could  not  dislodge. 


CHAPTER  X 
VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  :  INSTITUTIONS 

The  prime  of  Venice  runs  from  the  fourteenth 
century  through  the  sixteenth.  By  1300  her  gov- 
ernment had  taken  its  characteristic  form;  her 
imperial  relations,  her  commercial  and  colonial 
methods,  were  established,  her  social  habits  well 
defined.  Before  1600  her  empire  had  waned,  her 
commerce  shrunk,  and  she  was  living  on  her  past 
and  on  her  capital.  We  may  well  pause  to  examine 
briefly,  but  summarily,  into  her  civilization.  The 
questions  which  we  put  at  last  to  every  nation  are  : 
What  sort  of  existence  did  you  offer  to  your  chil- 
dren ?  What  was  your  contribution  to  human 
progress?  Venice  can  give  worthy  replies  to 
these  questions ;  for  she  attained  to  a  high  degree 
of  civilization.  By  her  enterprise  and  tolerance 
she  helped  the  human  race  forward ;  she  bestowed 
on  her  children  and  her  wards  a  larger  measure  of 
content  than  they  could  have  enjoyed  with  any  of 
her  contemporaries ;  and  through  her  art  she  rose 
into  the  noble  fellowship  of  Athens,  Florence,  and 
the  masters  of  Gothic. 

Let  us  look  first  at  her  government,  and  gather 
into  a  single  survey  the  facts  which  have  come 
212 


CHAP.  X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  213 

piecemeal  in  our  narration.  Venice  can  best  be 
compared  to  a  great  ship  which  requires  the  most 
skillful  navigators.  To  exist  at  all,  and  secure  that 
perfect  adjustment  to  her  physical  conditions  which 
her  incredible  location  called  for,  she  had  to  rely 
on  expert  direction ;  so  she  never  rested  until  she 
educated  experts,  and  her  history  is  their  best 
eulogy. 

( If  we  represent  her  government  as  a  pyramid,  the 
Great  Council  is  the  base  and  the  Doge  the  apex. 
Directly  or  indirectly,  every  officer  derived  his 
authority  from  the  Great  Council,  which,  elected 
by  popular  vote  in  the  first  instance,  became  there- 
after self-perpetuating.  In  1297  it  limited  its 
membership  to  the  aristocracy,  whose  male  adults 
numbered  from  one  to  two  per  cent.  *of  the  popula- 
tion.^ The  Council  met  every  Sunday.  Any  noble 
was  eligible  to  it  who  was  over  twenty-five  years  of 
age  and  had  had  his  legitimacy  certified.  The 
chief  business  was  appointing  and  electing,  but  in 
time  of  crisis  its  vote  decided  public  policy.  J 

More  ancient  than  the  Great  Council  was  [the 
Senate,Which  igrew  out  of  the  Doge's  custom  of  in- 
viting prominent  citizens  to  advise  him  in  an  emer- 
gency. These  invited  persons,  or  Pregadi,  came  to 
have  a  regular  existence.  They  were  elected  by 
the  Great  Council  (1229),  and  numbered  originally 

1  In  1368  the  heads  of  the  noble  houses  numbered  two  hundred 
and  four  ;  but  as  no  fewer  than  eighteen  of  the  Contarini  sat  in 
the  Great  Council  at  one  time,  it  is  safe  to  reckon  the  male 
patricians  at  from  three  thousand  to  four  thousand. 


'^ 


214  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

sixty;  subsequently  this  number  was  doubled  by 
the  addition  of  a  Junta,  which  the  Senators  them- 
selves chose.  Senators  held  office  for  a  year,  and 
not  more  than  three  members  of  any  family  could 
serve  simultaneously  in  the  first  sixty,  or  two  in  the 
Junta.  There  sat  ordinarily  with  the  Senate  the 
Doge  and  his  Councilors,  the  Ten,  the  Avogadors, 
and  the  Procurators  of  St.  Mark  —  about  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  in  all,  but  on  various  occasions  the 
number  rose  to  nearly  three  hundred,  by  the  inclu- 
sion of  special  commissions.  This  body  discussed  the 
vital  concerns  of  the  state,  and  controlled  particu- 
larly its  foreign  policy,  navigation,  and  commerce.] 
i  Above  the  Senate  sat  the  College,  which  com- 
prised the  sixteen  Sages,  and  corresponded  to  a 
modern  ministry.  When  it  met  with  the  Doge  and 
his  Council  and  the  three  Heads  of  the  Forty,  it 
was  called  the  Full  College  and  received  communi- 
cations or  envoys  from  foreign  states,  issued  com- 
n/issions,  and  attended  to  the  general  business  of 
Ahe  Eepublj-cl 
V  I  At  the  apex  of  the  pyramid  shone  the  Doge,  who 
during  the  later  centuries  was  almost  a  figurehead. 
In  the  days  of  the  Candiani  he  had  been  a  real 
executive,  dispenser  of  justice,  law-maker,  and  com- 
mander-in-chief on  sea  and  land.  One  by  one 
these  powers  had  been  shorn^  from  him.  His 
countrymen,  jealous  of  their  liberty,  hemmed  him 
in  with  restrictions,  and  made  him  the  symbol  of 
the  Republic.  He  presided  ove^  the  Great  Council, 
the  Signory,  the  College,  and  the  Ten,  but  his  func- 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  215 

tion  was  that  of  a  cliairman  or  moderator  rather 
than  that  of  an  executive.  Six  Ducal  Councilors, 
who  with  him  formed  the  Signory,  attended  him 
from  his  rising  until  he  went  to  bed,  and  except  in 
the  presence  of  four  of  them,  he  could  neither  open 
nor  despatch  letters,  grant  audiences,  or  discharge 
public  business.  He  was  expected  to  live  splen- 
didly, and  to  this  end  had  a  salary  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand ducats,  which  usually  fell  far  short  of  his 
private  income.  He  was  strictly  forbidden  to  con- 
fer offices  on  members  of  his  family,  or  to  put  them 
in  the  way  of  enriching  themselves  through  govern- 
ment favors.  As  a  final  precaution,  at  his  death  a 
special  commission  investigated  his  public  acts,  with 
power  to  attaint  his  heirs,  if  it  found  any  traces  of 
irregularity]  That  it  was  not  lenient,  we  infer  from 
its  condemning  the  heirs  of  Pietro  Loredano,  who 
died  in  1567,  to  pay  a  fine  of  fifteen  thousand  ducats, 
because  he  had  not  lived  "as  magnificently  as  so  high 
an  office  required."  But  although  the  Doge  could 
neither  initiate  nor  veto,  nothing  could  deprive  him 
of  that  personal  influence  which,  be  it  mighty 
or  meaching,  accompanies  every  human  creature: 
and  as  the  doges  were  for  the  most  part  men  of 
the  widest  experience  in  public  affairs,  their  opin- 
ion, even  in  the  later  period  of  gilded  ceremonial, 
carried  great  weight ;  we  shall  see  how,  before  the 
compelling  personality  of  Francesco  Morosini,  the 
rigid  prescriptions  became  elastic. 

The  Great  Council,  the  Senate,  and  the  Full  Col- 
lege constituted  in  a  large  way  the  government,  but 


216  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  Sages  and  the  Ten  actually  managed  its  busi- 
ness. [The  six  Great  Sages  (Savii  Orandi)  looked 
after  the  general  administration  of  the  capital,  the 
five  Sages  for  Terra  Firma  {Savii  di  Terra  Firma) 
attended  to  the  affairs  of  the  mainland,  and  the  five 
Sages  for  the  Sea  (Savii  da  Mar,  or  deyli  ordini) 
nominally  superintended  naval  and  maritime  affairs, 
but  were  really  of  little  importance.  Each  of  these 
committees  prepared  all  business  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion for  the  consideration  of  the  Full  College.  The 
three  groirps  of  Sages  really  performed  the  functions 
of  modern  ministries  of  home  affairs,  colonies,  and 
admiralty  and  commerce ;  but  instead  of  having  a 
permanent  secretary  at  the  head  of  each  depart- 
ment, the  Sages  held  in  rotation  the  headship  for 
one  daju 

'^t  the  heart  of  the  government  worked  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ten.  It  came  into  existence  after  the 
conspiracy  of  Bajamonte  Tiepolo  as  a  temporary 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  and  was  declared  per- 
manent in  1335.  The  Ten  were  the  Ministry  of 
Police  of  Venice.  They  guarded  against  rebels  at 
home  and  enemies  from  abroad,  they  kept  strict 
order,  they  watched  over  public  decency  and  morals. 
Political  activity  being  limited  to  the  patricians, 
the  Ten  jealously  suppressed  it  among  the  other 
classe^  Treason  and  rebellion  were  so  common  in 
Italy,  that  the  extreme  precautions  taken  by  the 
Decemvirs  was  certainly  justified,  and  to  them  be- 
longs the  credit  of  preserving  Venice  from  any 
serious  danger  during  nearly  five   hundred  years.^ 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  217 

'^eing  elected  for  a  year,  they  themselves  chose 
three  of  their  number  as  Heads  {Capi)  who  served 
alternately  one  month  each,  and  were  forbidden  to 
go  into  the  city,  or  to  hold  intercourse  with  citizens 
during  their  term  of  office.  The  Ten,  although  a 
patrician  body,  stood  so  often  between  the  common- 
ers and  the  patricians,  that  they  were  respected  by 
the  lower  classes.  But  as  they  worked  secretly, 
employed  spies  (detectives  we  should  now  call  them), 
and  punished  swiftly,  they  had  a  terrible  reputation^ 
which  it  was  their  policy  not  to  deny.  They  re- 
sorted to  torture  when  they  deemed  it  necessary, 
and  they  executed  promptly  after  conviction.  Like 
all  medievals,  they  probably  did  not  lean  to  the 
side  of  mercy ;  but,  as  Mr.  Horatio  Brown  remarks, 
an  examination  of  their  archives  will  not  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  were  "  either  cruel  or  sangui- 
nary." The  common  belief  that  the  Ten  blindly 
acted  upon  anonymous  accusations,  slipped  into  the 
Lion's  Mouth,  was  unfounded,  since  they  paid  no 
attention  to  such  a  charge  unless  five  sixths  of  the 
Council  approved.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
Doge  and  his  six  Councilors  always  had  a  place  in 
the  sessions  of  the  Ten,  which  were  usually  at- 
tended also  by  an  Avogador  to  uphold  the  law. 

That  the  Ten  should  encroach  beyond  the  politi- 
cal field,  and  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  real 
executive,  was  inevitable.  All  sorts  of  petitioners 
appealed  to  them.  They  took  cognizance  of  judi- 
cial as  well  as  of  political  business,  and  it  was 
always  easy  to  assume  that  any  matter  concerned 


218  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

public  safety  enough  to  warrant  their  meddling  with 
it.  Early  in  their  career  they  forced  Foscari  to 
abdicate ;  and  in  the  sixteenth  century  they  waged 
a  long  contest  for  supremacy  with  the  Great  Council, 
which  in  the  end  declared  their  usurpation  illegal 
(1582).  Still,  they  did  not  let  the  practical  control 
of  affairs  pass  out  of  their  hands.  Perhaps  because 
they  found  their  body,  with  the  Ducal  Council 
added,  too  unwieldy  for  quick  work,  they  formed 
the  subcommittee  of  the  Three  Inquisitors  of  State, 
who  could  act  on  the  instant.  The  Three  also  knew 
the  value  of  inspiring  terror,  and  did  nothing  to 
dispel  the  popular  impression  that  to  be  summoned 
before  them  was  equivalent  to  a  conviction;  al- 
though their  activity,  gauged  by  their  prosecutions, 
was  not  excessive.^ 

Whether  the  most  intimate  facts  concerning  the 
Ten  will  ever  be  known,  may  well  be  doubted. 
Much  may  be  done  by  a  committee  which  it  neither 
records  in  the  minutes  of  its  proceedings  nor  stores 
away  in  its  archives.  Secrecy  favors  abuses;  es- 
pionage, suspicion,  terror,  raise  a  presumption 
against  those  who  employ  them.  Nevertheless, 
two  points  must  be  given  full  weight  in  judging  the 
Ten:  first,  it  is  incredible  that  a  dominant  class 
should  choose  such  a  body  from  its  own  members, 
and  tolerate  it  for  five  hundred  years,  if  they 
believed  its  rule  to  be  unjust,  cruel,  and  corrupt. 
Secondly,   as   the  Decemvirs   served  only  a  year 

1  From  1573  to  1775  they  prosecuted  1273  suits,  an  average  of 
about  six  a  year. 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  219 

and  could  not  be  immediately  reelected,  there  were' 
always  two  or  three  hundred  patricians  alive  who 
had  been  members  of  the  Ten,  conversant  with  its 
secrets  and  responsible  for  its  methods.  Again  it 
is  incredible  that  so  large  a  number  of  persons 
should  habitually  connive  at  a  system  which  they 
knew  to  be  unjust,  cruel,  and  corrupt. 

With  no  fewer  than  eleven  different  courts  of  the 
first  instance,  Venice  had  a  highly  specialized  judi- 
ciary. The  Criminal  Forty  and  the  Civil  Forty, 
composed  of  patricians,  acted  as  courts  of  appeal 
in  criminal  and  civil  cases ;  and  when  the  need  arose, 
a  third  bench,  the  New  Civil  Forty,  was  created  to 
hear  appeals  of  litigants  from  Terra  Firma.  An  Avo- 
gador  del  Commune,  or  Advocate  of  the  Commune, 
an  officer  who  resembled  the  Tribunes  of  Eepublican 
Eome,  sat  with  the  Forty  to  guard  against  infringe- 
ments of  the  common  laws.  Trial  by  jury  did  not 
exist,  but  the  judge  examined  witnesses  carefully, 
and  the  accused  might  engage  counsel.  Prosecu- 
tors were  warned  not  to  cross-question  in  a  vexa- 
tious spirit.  A  stern  procedure  governed  causes 
which  went  before  the  Council  of  Ten,  which 
tried  patricians  and  had  jurisdiction  over  political 
and  heinous  crimes  and  bestial  vices.  Two  Decem- 
virs, one  Ducal  Councilor,  and  an  Avogador  con- 
ducted the  examination  of  the  accused  in  a  dark 
cell  to  hasten  a  confession.  If  he  proved  stubborn, 
he  was  put  to  the  torture ;  but  the  law  grimly  in- 
sisted that  this  must  not  be  pushed  "beyond  the 
normal  limit."    Challenges,  duels,  wagers  of  battle, 


220  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

and  similar  feudal  practices  had  no  part  in  Venice ; 
but  the  assumption,  common  to  the  Latin  peoples, 
prevailed,  that  the  accused  was  guilty  unless  he 
could  prove  himself  innocent. 

Punishment  bore  the  medieval  stamp,  the  death 
penalty  being  very  common.  Petty  thieves  were 
flogged ;  those  who  stole  forty  lire  or  more  might  be 
put  to  death ;  forgers  and  false  coiners  lost  a  hand ; 
violent  burglars,  ravishers,  and  adulterers  lost  both 
a  hand  and  an  eye.  Capital  punishment  had  de- 
grees of  painf ulness  and  ignominy ;  beheading  or 
hanging  was  regarded  as  the  quickest,  strangling 
as  the  least  ignominious,  starving  as  the  cruelest. 
Ordinary  criminals  were  drowned,  political  offenders 
hanged.^  The  prisons,  whether  the  Pozzi  in  the 
cellar  of  the  Ducal  Palace  or  the  Piombi  under 
the  roof  of  the  adjacent  building,  were  bad  enough, 
but  no  worse  than  those  in  every  European  city. 
Common  criminals  were  confined  in  less  noisome 
places,  and  as  early  as  1441  the  sexes  were  sepa- 
rated in  jails  and  prisons.     The  Doge  was  required 

1  For  the  sake  of  comparison,  I  cite  from  Holinshed  the  pun- 
ishments which  obtained  in  England  about  1580,  that  is,  near 
the  middle  of  Elizabeth's  reign.  For  high  treason,  the  victim 
was  hanged  till  he  was  half  dead,  then  taken  down  and  quar- 
tered alive;  for  murder,  hanging  in  chains,  the  body  being  left 
till  the  bones  consumed  to  nothing;  burning  alive  for  a  woman 
who  poisoned  her  husband;  boiling  to  death,  in  water  or  lead, 
for  other  poisoners;  hanging  or  burning  for  witches;  hanging 
or  guillotining  (at  Halifax)  for  common  thieves;  pressing  to 
death  by  great  weights  for  felons  "who  stand  mute  at  their 
arraignment";  branding,  cutting  off  ears  or  hands,  whipping, 
and  similar  milder  methods  for  petty  offenders. 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  221 

to  see  that  prisoners  were  brought  to  trial  within 
a  month.  The  expeditiousness  of  Venetian  justice 
contrasts  favorabl}^  with  the  law's  delay  in  America, 
and  Venetian  judges  would  look  with  disgust  on  the 
modern  practice  of  treating  a  felon  like  a  pet  or 
a  hero. 

The  law  of  Venice  grew  out  of  the  old  Koman 
roots.  The  peculiar  nature  of  the  Dogado  and  its 
occupations  called  for  special  legislation.  Doge 
Malipiero  (1178-92)  attempted  to  reduce  the  vari- 
ous laws  to  uniformity,  and  from  his  time  date  the 
Statutes,  in  five  books,  including  one  on  canon 
law.  Immediately  afterward,  Enrico  Dandolo  pro- 
mulgated a  new  code  of  criminal  law  (Promissione 
del  Malejtcio,  1195).  His  successor,  Pietro  Ziani, 
drew  up  a  nautical  capitulary  (1225) ;  and  then 
Jacopo  Tiepolo  ordered  a  complete  code  to  be 
framed.  True  to  her  individuality,  Venice  had  her 
laws  and  conducted  her  trials  in  the  vernacular  — 
a  practice  which  benefited  the  common  people,  al- 
though it  may  account  for  the  lack  of  eminent  legal 
writers  among  her  jurisprudents.  In  the  course 
of  centuries  laws  were  passed  for  every  conceivable 
trifling  affair,  and,  as  always  happens  when  law- 
making becomes  a  mania,  they  were  mostly  inopera- 
tive. But  in  the  great  branches  of  legislation  —  in 
their  marine  law,  in  their  commercial  contracts,  and 
in  the  penal  code  —  the  Venetians  were  pioneers, 
and  deserve  the  attention  of  some  competent  stu- 
dent of  comparative  legislation.  Their  courts  held 
so  high  a  reputation  for   fairness  that  many  for- 


V 


222  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

eigners. referred  their  suits  to  them,  and  the  Law 
School  at  Padua  became,  under  Venetian  patronage, 
the  first  in  Europe. 

'  In  one  most  important  matter  Venice  stood  firm  : 
she  refused  to  allow  civil  or  mixed  causes  to  be 
tried  in  the  ecclesiastical  court.  This  was  in  accord- 
ance with  her  rigid  separation  of  the  State  from  the 
Church.  Even  in  consenting  to  the  introduction  of 
the  Inquisition  (1289),  she  took  care  to  protect  herself 
and  her  citizens  from  its  tyranny  by  insisting  that 
the  Papal  Nuncio,  the  Patriarch,  and  the  Father 
Inquisitor,  who  directed  the  Holy  Office,  must  be 
approved  by  the  Doge,  and  must  report  without 
reserve  their  proceedings  to  him  and  to  the  Senate. 
The  Republic  herself,  as  a  further  safeguard,  ap- 
pointed a  board  of  Three  Sages  for  Heresy  {Savii 
air  Eresid).  As  a  result,  her  annals  show  no  Que- 
madero,  no  Smithfield,  no  Tyburn  Hill.  Here  and 
there  a  heretic  may  have  suffered,  but  there  was  no 
general  persecution.  For  Venice  permitted  the  In- 
quisition to  deal  only  with  Roman  Catholics,  because 
they  alone  could  rightly  be  held  answerable  to  the 
discipline  of  their  Church.  She  did  not  disturb 
adherents  of  other  creeds.  The  Greek  Church,  to 
which  many  of  her  subjects  belonged,  enjoyed  espe- 
cial favor;  Armenians,  Slavonians,  and  Albanians, 
and  even  German  Protestants,  had  their  places  of 
worship  in  the  capital  itself. 

We  need  not  examine  in  detail  the  minor  officers 
of  government,  each  of  whom  fitted  exactly  into  the 
intricate  mechanism.      A  highly  organized  police 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  223 

corresponded  to  the  sleepless  vigilance  of  the  Ten 
and  Three.  There  were  inspectors  of  the  Mint,  of 
flour,-salt,  and  grain ;  censors  who  watched  over  pub- 
lic morals  ;  an  active  board  of  health ;  commissioners 
to  see  that  the  canals  were  dredged,  others  who 
determined  fair  wages,  arbitrated  quarrels  between 
merchants  and  employers,  and  condemned  poor 
work;  inspectors  of  meats,  sealers  of  weights  and 
measures,  who  also  regulated  shop  signs  and  heard 
the  grievances  of  apprentices  and  servants;  in- 
spectors of  inns  and  taphouses,  who  condemned 
sour  or  musty  wines ;  superconsuls,  who  looked 
after  the  interests  of  creditors ;  and  a  host  of  no- 
taries, syndics,  and  petty  placemen,  besides  the 
usual  fiscal  and  marine  officials  of  a  great  port. 
The  Arsenal,  the  chief  of  the  public  works,  on 
which  the  safety  of  the  Eepublic  depended  in  war 
and  her  commerce  at  all  times,  had  an  elaborate 
government  of  its  own,  which  rigidly  insisted  on 
the  highest  skill  in  shipbuilding,  economy,  and  a 
thorough  audit. 

Stability  and  efficiency  —  those  were  the  ideals 
of  Venice.  To  secure  stability  and  prevent  des- 
potism, she  subdivided  responsibility  in  the  execu- 
tive branch,  and  centralized  it  in  the  administrative. 
Check  and  countercheck  was  everywhere  her  plan. 
For  the  sake  of  efficiency,  she  adopted  an  unpar- 
alleled system  for  training  experts.  When  a 
patrician  was  twenty  years  old,  if  he  showed  prom- 
ise, she  made  him  sit  in  the  Great  Council  as  an 
apprentice,  so  that,  by  the  time  he  was  of  legal  age, 


224  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

he  had  learned  the  business  of  the  Council  and  had 
known  the  heads  of  the  state.  Then  he  was  tested 
in  one  office  after  another,  from  lower  to  higher, 
until  he  had  proved  his  eligibility  to  the  Sages,  the 
College,  or  the  Ten  itself.  Short  terms  and  rapid 
rotation  in  office  prevented  a  dangerous  or  incapar 
ble  man  from  becoming  a  fixture  in  any  part  of  the 
government,  gave  every  able  politician  the  chance 
qf  filling  several  different  posts,  and  opened  to  many 
the  hope  of  filling  at  least  one  post.  Only  the 
Doge,  the  Grand  Chancellor,  and  the  Procurators  of 
St.  Mark  had  a  life  tenure ;  most  officials  held  office 
for  a  year,  and  could  not  be  at  once  reelected.  The 
Ducal  Councilors  sat  eight  months  with  the  Doge 
and  four  months  with  the  Criminal  Forty,  thus 
combining  in  the  course  of  a  twelvemonth  the 
duties  of  a  privy  councilor  and  of  a  judge  of  ap- 
peal. This  interlocking  of  functions  was  a  favor- 
ite practice.  Two  of  the  Three,  for  instance,  were 
Decemvirs,  and  the  third  was  a  Ducal  Councilor. 
Moreover,  the  custom  of  choosing  a  special  commis- 
sion, or  junta  (zonta,  in  Venetian),  to  deal  with  an 
emergency  —  a  custom  which  in  later  days  was 
freely  abused — served  still  further  to  bring 
together  men  from  different  departments.  By 
/  this  means,  while  the  organic  relation  of  one 
department  with  another  was  emphasized,  the 
individual  gained  an  all-round  knowledge  of  various 
business;  by  this  means  also  the  worst  evils 
of  secrecy  were  mitigated ;  for  there  were  always 
many  ex-members  of  the  secret  councils  who  could 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  225 

judge  from  their  own  experience  what  either  the 
Ten  or  the  Three  for  the  time  being  were  about. 

The  despotism  of  no  autocrat  has  been  more 
terrible  than  that  of  Robespierre's  Committee  of 
Public  Safety :  to  guard  against  such  a  possibility 
the  cautious  Republic  adopted  the  system  of  rota- 
tion, which  freed  her  from  the  risk  of  the  collec- 
tive tyranny  of  boards  chosen  for  a  long  term  or  for 
life.  And  yet,  by  a  paradox,  she  secured  continuity 
of  policy  and  efficiency  of  administration,  through 
having  always  on  hand  a  large  number  of  men, 
trained  in  all  branches  of  the  public  service,  whom 
she  could  draw  upon  to  fill  any  particular  office. 
She  suffered  no  shirking :  a  patrician  might  neither 
refuse  nor  resign  the  charge  she  laid  upon  him.     \ 

A  political  system  so  elaborate  and  so  efficient 
could   spring  from   only  a  high  civilization.    \No 
other  government  has  trusted  so  loyally  to  special-  />*; 
ists ;  no  other  ruling  class  has  taken  such  endless     ' 
pains  to  train  experts.     If  the  patricians  swayed  the 
state  for  their  own  interest,  they  gave  it  in  return 
immense    prosperity.     Nowhere    else    were    taxes  \ 
so  light,  and  we  hear  few  complaints  from  either    i 
the  bourgeoisie  or  the  common  people  of  unequal  / 
burdens.     We  may  say  of  the  Venetian  oligarchy  ' 
that  as  a  working  system  it  came  nearer  to  perfec- 
tion than  any  other  form  of  government  has  coniej 
We  have  already  described  how  Venice  regulated 
commerce  and   gave  to  the  coming  and   going  of 
her  fleets  the  momentum  of  her  collective  wisdom 
and  strength.     She  early  developed  a  financial  sys- 

Q 


226  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

tern  suited  to  tlie  demands  of  trade  on  an  interna- 
tional scale.  About  1160  the  government  made  a 
loan,  and  a  dozen  years  later  organized  a  public  debt 
on  which  it  issued  scrip  and  paid  interest.  Thence- 
forward, Venetian  funds  were  so  highly  esteemed 
that  foreign  rulers,  not  excepting  certain  popes, 
eagerly  invested  their  money  in  them ;  but  the  Sen- 
ate reserved  the  right  to  reject  applicants  whom 
it  deemed  undesirable.  A  sound  currency  being  in- 
dispensable to  sound  business,  Venice  put  forth  a 
coinage  which  long  served  as  the  standard.  Her 
first  gold  ducat,  struck  by  Giovanni  Dandolo,  dating 
from  1284,  passed  current  in  all  lands  throughout 
the  Middle  Age  as  the  English  sovereign  passes 
to-day.  When  medievals  referred  to  "the  Mint," 
they  meant  the  Mint  of  Venice,  of  which  the 
word  "sequin,"  the  other  name  for  ducat,  was  a 
reminder.^ 

The  conquest  of  Constantinople  resulted  in  a 
rapid  increase  of  the  volume  of  trade  throughout 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  before  1300  the  money 
changers  began  to  organize  private  banks,  through 
which  the  great  international  transactions  were  car- 
ried on  until  1537,  when  the  government  opened 
the  first  state  bank.  Many  of  the  nobles,  among 
whom  we  find  the  names  of  Soranzo,  Priuli,  Pisani, 

1  Sequiu  is  from  the  Italian  zecchino,  which  in  turn  comes 
from  Zecca,  the  mint.  But  Zecca  itself,  according  to  local  ety- 
mologists, is  the  old  Venetian  for  Zuecca,  that  is  Giudecca,  the 
Jewish  quarter  of  the  city,  where  the  first  mint  was  opened. 
Other  etymologists  trace  Zecca  to  the  Arabic  Slkka,  a  stamp 
for  coins. 


X  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  227 

Lippomano,  Vendramin,  Sanudo,  and  Tiepolo,  en- 
gaged in  banking,  sometimes  as  an  adjunct  to  their 
operations  as  merchants. 

But  although  Venice  led  the  modern  world  in 
methods  of  commerce,  she  did  not  outgrow  in  her 
economic  system  the  medieval  ideals  of  a  protective 
tariff,  export  duties,  and  government  monopolies. 
The  time  came  when  protectionism  brought  its 
retribution. 

Medieval,  also,  was  the  slave  trade,  in  which  Ve- 
netians engaged  down  to  the  seventeenth  century. 
They  bought  slaves,  mostly  Slavs,  Georgians,  and 
Circassians,  at  Tana  and  Kaffa  in  the  Crimea,  and 
sold  the  men  in  Egypt  and  the  women  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  Western  Europe.  The  government  repeat- 
edly forbade  the  traffic,  but  its  prohibitions  had 
little  effect,  and  as  late  as  about  1580  there  were 
three  thousand  slaves  in  the  capital.  Venice  fol- 
lowed the  common  practice  of  enslaving  prisoners 
captured  in  war,  their  usual  doom  being  to  man  the 
oars  of  the  galleys. 


CHAPTER  XI 

VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION:    LIFE  AND  ART 

In  manners  and  the  arts  of  life,  the  Venetians 
naturally,  from  their  wealth,  their  intercourse  with 
the  East,  and  their  isolated  position,  which  screened 
them  from  invasion,  took  the  lead.  Medicine  flour- 
ished among  them.  They  had  hospitals,  a  quaran- 
tine system,  a  lazaretto,  and  municipal  physicians 
long  in  advance  of  their  neighbors.  They  were  a 
philanthropic  people,  as  their  magdalens  and  or- 
phanages, their  foundling  asylums  and  convales- 
cent homes  bore  witness.  They  were  fond  of 
birds,  music,  and  flowers,  and  they  loved  pets. 
Morosini  the  Peloponnesian  carried  his  favorite 
cat  on  his  campaigns.  Their  dolce  maniera,  their 
sweet  manner,  which  their  proverbial  dignity 
did  not  overshadow,  early  distinguished  them.^ 
How  many  a  race  has  grown  rich  without  ever 
being  able  to  acquire  either  dignity  or  charm ! 
"  When  a  son  is  born  to  a  Venetian,"  remarked  a 
Milanese  traveler,  "  a  lord  is  born  into  the  world ;  " 
and  indeed  this  was  true,  for  to  be  a  Venetian 
citizen  was  equivalent  to  a  patent  of  nobility  else- 

1  A  Lombard  envoy  about  940  remarked  on  the  politeness  of 
the  Venetians. 

228 


CHAP.  XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  229 

where.  Wealth  brought  ease  and  comfort,  and 
poured  into  the  capital  city  whatever  luxuries  the 
world  could  give. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  appraise  the  Venetian 
standard  of  morals.  Each  generation  has  its  par- 
ticular vices,  which  it  judges  tolerantly  w^hile  it 
condemns  those  of  other  generations.  So  youth 
abhors  the  avarice  and  worldliness  of  age,  and  age 
censures  the  profligacy  of  youth.  In  Venice  a  high 
code  of  honor  prevailed  in  business.  Merchants 
were  gentlemen.  The  world  has  never  seen  a 
similar  merchant  nobility ;  for  elsewhere,  as  soon 
as  trade  brought  sufficient  wealth  to  make  a  noble 
of  its  possessor,  he  abandoned  trade.  England, 
who  owes  her  strength  to  trade  and  shopkeeping, 
has  no  terms  so  damning  as  "  tradesman"  and  "  shop- 
keeper." The  Venetian,  on  the  contrary,  glorying 
in  his  occupation,  knew  the  art  of  being  both 
tradesman  and  patrician,  and  each  of  his  roles 
helped  the  other;  for  the  sense  of  honor  which 
governed  him  as  a  patrician  leavened  his  business 
transactions.  One  symptom  of  the  decadence  of 
the  Kepublic  was  the  withdrawal  of  the  nobles 
from  business. 

In  sexual  license,  Venice  early  got  an  unenvi- 
able notoriety.  Her  people  were  by  temperament 
voluptuous;  they  had  wealth  for  gratifying  their 
desires.  Being  the  chief  port  in  the  world,  Venice 
always  harbored  a  large  floating  population  of  sailors 
and  foreigners;  later,  rich  travelers  and  pleasure- 
seekers  flocked  to  her.     Intercourse  with  the  East 


230  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

exposed  her  to  the  contagion  of  Asiatic  vice. 
Loose  as  her  morals  were,  however,  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  they  were  relatively  worse  down 
to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  than  those  of 
Naples  or  Rome,  of  Florence  or  Milan,  of  Paris  or 
London.  The  difference  seems  to  have  been  not 
so  much  in  the  extent  as  in  the  character  of  the 
dissipation,  which  at  Venice  was  noted  for  its  gay- 
ety.  The  government  passed  frequent  laws  to 
restrict  and  punish ;  but,  like  the  sumptuary  laws 
with  which  the  Venetian  Statute  Book  is  sown,  they 
had  little  effect.  The  belief  spread,  indeed,  that 
the  Ten  willingly  saw  voluptuousness  sap  energy 
which  might  otherwise  seek  an  outlet  in  political 
affairs.  So  to  amuse  the  lower  classes  there  were 
unrivaled  pageants  and  ceremonies  in  which  every 
one  took  part. 

Coming  to  her  intellectual  and  spiritual  life,  the 
charge  is  often  brought  that  Venice  produced  no 
world  poet,  no  great  literature.  Some  critics  at- 
tribute this  to  her  oligarchic  government,  which 
tended  to  stifle  individuality;  others,  to  commer- 
cialism, the  alleged  sworn  foe  to  ideals ;  others,  to 
luxury,  amid  which  the  soul  languishes  ;  others,  to 
her  too  constant  happiness,  which  deprived  her  of 
those  tragic  experiences  in  which  master  poets  are 
cradled.  Each  of  these  causes  may  have  had  its 
influence,  but  not  all  of  them  combined  can  fully 
explain.  For  we  can  no  more  explain  than  foresee 
a  master  poet.  When  he  comes,  we  study  his 
environment,  and  proudly  declare  that  it  accounts 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  231 

for  him  —  whereas  it  merely  furnishes  him  with 
his  material.  If  comparative  freedom  be  requisite, 
why  did  not  the  Flemish  towns  swarm  with  poetic 
genius  ?  If  commercialism  destroys  idealists,  why 
was  there  the  glorious  Victorian  age  in  England  ? 
If  luxury  be  a  bar,  how  could  Virgil  and  Horace 
flourish  under  Augustus  ?  Who  would  pick  out 
the  somewhat  dowdy,  provincial  little  court  of 
Weimar  as  a  fit  stage  for  Goethe  and  Schiller,  or 
deem  the  general  despotic  conditions  of  eighteenth- 
century  Germany  most  propitious  for  her  master- 
pieces ?  And  happy  though  Venice  was,  extraordi- 
narily happy  compared  to  her  contemporaries,  she 
too  knew  the  tragic  undercurrents  of  life.  Yet  no 
great  singer  immortalized  either  her  glories  or  her 
defeats,  while  Terrara,  only  a  day's  journey  away, 
claimed  Ariosto  and  Torquato  Tasso. 

Venice  bore  many  chroniclers,  but  none  of  high 
literary  merit,  and  several  invaluable  diarists,  whose 
records  are  open  windows  through  which  we  look  at 
a  full-blooded  people  throbbing  with  life.  Her  am- 
bassadors excelled  as  writers  of  despatches.  Only 
in  the  political  polemics  of  Sarpi,  however,  have  we 
work  of  the  first  rank,  and  only  in  his  History  of 
the  Council  of  Trent  an  important  historical  nar- 
rative. Just  at  the  end  of  the  Republic's  career, 
Goldoni  and  Gozzi  created  a  genuine  comic  litera- 
ture which  paints  with  obvious  fidelity  the  follies 
of  the  dying  social  order.  Goldoni  wrote  the  best 
of  his  comedies  in  the  Venetian  dialect,  the  medium 
also  for  a  great  mass  of  popular  poetry.     The  fact 


232  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

that  Venetian  was  a  dialect,  must  have  hindered  the 
production  of  the  noblest  literary  forms :  its  early 
adoption  for  public  business  shows  the  determina- 
tion of  the  Venetians  to  be  sufficient  unto  them- 
selves in  all  things. 

Although  Venice  bred  no  school  of  literature,  she 
welcomed  scholars,  and  after  the  fall  of  Constan- 
tinople she  gave  refuge  to  many  learned  Greeks. 
Her  upper  classes  were  cultivated :  they  patronized 
great  teachers  liberally  and  collected  books  and 
manuscripts  with  the  connoisseur's  zeal.  The  col- 
lection which  Petrarch  left  her  became  the  nucleus 
of  her  magnificent  Marcian  Library,  and  many  of 
her  patricians  had  private  libraries  famous  for  their 
treasures.  While  printing  was  still  in  its  infancy, 
the  Venetian  press  sent  out  models  of  typography 
and  bookmaking,  and  thanks  to  the  taste  and  care 
of  Jenson,  Aldus,  and  her  other  master  printers, 
the  classics  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  collected, 
edited,  and  published  in  a  manner  which  long  re- 
mained unapproached.  Throughout  the  sixteenth 
century,  indeed,  Venice  led  the  world  in  publishing, 
led  it  not  only  in  technical  excellence,  but  in  rairge, 
her  toleration  being  a  godsend  to  authors  of  doubt- 
ful orthodoxy.  Next  to  creating  great  literature 
come  the  love  and  reverence  for  it,  and  the  skill  to 
preserve  it  in  forms  at  once  practical  and  noble. 

Explain  her  dearth  in  literature  as  we  will,  Venice 
displayed  in  the  Fine  Arts  gifts  of  the  highest 
order,  —  imagination,  idealism,  harmony,  and  a 
matchless   sense   of  beauty.     As  Englishmen  and 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  238 

Americans  draw  four  fifths  of  their  culture  from 
books,  they  are  likely  to  underrate  the  culture 
which  speaks  through  the  plastic  arts  and  painting. 
Yet  St.  Mark's  Church  may  have  had  for  the  people 
who  saw  it  daily  the  cultural  equivalent  of  an  Iliad 
or  an  Antigone. 

Architecture  has  nowhere  else  been  so  hampered 
by  natural  conditions,  and  nowhere  else  has  it  so 
victoriously  surmounted  them.  With  no  solid  bot- 
tom to  found  on,  her  builders  had  to  guard  against 
the  constant  erosion  of  the  tides.  The  earliest  Ve- 
netians put  up  wooden  houses :  then  they  brought 
stone  from  the  mainland  and  set  to  work  on  their 
churches.  Only  after  the  removal  of  the  capital  to 
the  Eialtine  islets  appeared  architecture  which  was 
the  forerunner  of  the  Venetian  style.  The  Byzan- 
tine work  at  Ravenna  served  as  a  model ;  and  inter- 
course with  Constantinople  made  this  the  prevailing 
style  until  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  But 
other  streams  of  influence  swept  in  to  modify  it  — 
the  Saracenic  from  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  and 
the  Gothic  from  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. Out  of  the  blending  or  combination  of  these 
elements  arose  the  architectural  marvels  of  Venice. 

St.  Mark's  Church,  originally  the  private  chapel 
of  the  Doge,  was  burnt  in  976.  Orseolo  the  Great 
at  once  began  a  large  basilica  to  replace  it.  This 
was  completed  in  1071,  and  forms  the  inner  walls 
of  the  church  which  we  know  to-day.  Doge  vied 
with  Doge  in  beautifying  it.  Arcades,  chapels, 
transepts,    grew   up    round  the    parent   structure. 


,93#  ,,,  ,      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Domes  and  pinnacles  rose  above  it.  Marbles  most 
precious  and  most  beautiful,  alabaster,  porphyry, 
clothed  the  bare  brick  walls ;  columns  and  pilasters 
and  capitals,  spoils  from  Syria,  Byzantium,  and 
Greece,  were  fitted  into  the  structure  as  if  they  had 
grown  there.  On  the  gold  background  of  the  inte- 
rior, scenes  from  the  Bible  were  wrought  in  mosaic 
after  designs  by  the  great  artists  of  each  generation. 
Such  splendor  of  color,  such  richness  of  material, 
such  harmony  of  plan  and  adaptation  of  each  part 
to  its  end,  have  never  been  united  in  one  edi- 
fice before.  Here  the  Venetians  worshiped  their 
God ;  here  they  poured  out  their  offerings  to  their 
patron  and  solemnized  their  historic  festivals ; 
here  they  bowed  themselves  in  supplication,  con- 
firmed the  election  of  their  doges,  chanted  their 
Te  Deums  of  victory.  St.  Mark's  was  the  symbol 
of  the  life  and  aspiration  of  the  nation,  and  in  its 
^  fusion  of  Byzantine  and  Saracenic  and  Gothic,  as 
in  its  interweaving  of  the  most  precious  materials 
of  many  lands,  it  typified  the  cosmopolitan  spirit 
of  the  Venetians,  and  their  sense  of  beauty  which 
subdued  all  things  to  its  own  perfection. 

The  Ducal  Palace,  in  similar  fashion  the  growth 
of  centuries,  was  a  building  unique.  In  the  days 
of  the  earlier  doges  a  fortified  stronghold,  it 
took  on,  with  the  progress  of  civilization,  the  aspect 
of  a  palace.  Fire  destroyed  it  in  976  and  in  1106 ; 
Sebastiano  Ziani  enlarged  it;  finally,  Pietro  Gra- 
denigo,  soon  after  the  Closing  of  the  Great  Council, 
began  the  facade  on  the  Lagoon,  the  design  of  which 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  235 

was  followed  along  the  western  front.  In  1422, 
Tommaso  Mocenigo  urged  the  completion  of  this 
western  fagade,  which  was  done.  In  1439-42,  Bar- 
tolommeo  Bon  —  the  first  architect  of  whose  name 
we  can  be  sure  as  connected  with  a  special  work  — 
erected  the  Porta  della  Carta.  In  1479  the  interior 
of  the  Palace  on  the  Lagoon  was  burnt,  and  its 
rebuilding  dragged  on  for  seventy  years.  Another 
fire  in  1574  damaged  the  ducal  apartments,  the  Hall 
of  the  Great  Council  and  the  neighboring  quarters, 
which  were  quickly  restored.  The  faqades  on  the 
courtyard  and  the  Giants'  Staircase  date  from  the 
earlier  Eenaissance.  Thus  the  Ducal  Palace  em- 
bodies the  tastes  of  four  centuries,  and  dovetails 
into  a  central  harmony  the  divers  plans  of  many 
builders. 

Throughout  the  city  we  find  the  same  juxtaposi- 
tion of  styles,  although  those  of  the  Eenaissance 
and  its  degenerate  offshoots,  being  the  most  recent, 
outnumber  the  others.  The  Pondaco  dei  Turchi, 
too  garish  in  its  restoration,  and  the  Loredan,  Par- 
setti,  and  Da  Mosto  palaces  represent  the  Byzantine. 
For  the  Gothic  we  turn  to  the  churches  of  the  Prari 
and  Sts.  John  and  Paul,  and  to  such  a  group  of 
palaces  as  have  had  no  equals  in  the  world.  The 
Poscari,  the  Doria,  the  beautiful  upper  story  of  the 
Palazzo  Ariani,  the  Pisani,  the  Bernardo,  the  Con- 
tarini-Pasan,  the  Ca  d'  Oro,  sprang  from  her  radiant 
prime.  The  Renaissance  brought  other  ideals,  al- 
though for  a  long  time  Venice  stamped  her  own 
individuality  upon  it.     The   Lombardi   family,  of 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

whom  the  eldest  began  to  work  about  1450,  had  the 
art  of  producing  beautiful  effects  through  small 
areas,  as  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Miracles, 
or  of  handling  large  masses,  as  in  the  facade  of 
S.  Zaccaria;  while  in  the  Dario  and  the  Cornero- 
Spinelli  palaces,  especially  in  the  former,  they 
designed  facades  almost  comparable  to  the  Vene- 
tian Gothic.  In  the  faqade  of  the  Vendramin- 
Calergi,  massive  in  bulk  and  rigid  in  lines,  they 
led  the  way  to  the  architecture  of  the  later  Renais- 
sance, in  which  one  seeks  in  vain  for  the  typical 
Venetian  beauty.  The  sixteenth-century  architects 
—  Sammichele,  who  built  the  Grimani  and  Cornero- 
Mocenigo  palaces;  Sansovino,  renowned  for  the 
Mint,  Library  of  St.  Mark,  and  the  Loggetta ;  Pal- 
ladio,  who  planned  the  S.  Giorgio  Maggiore  and 
the  Redentore  churches ;  and  Scamozzi,  designer  of 
the  Procuratie  Nuove  —  filled  Venice  with  their 
neo-classical  structures,  some  of  which  were  master- 
pieces, but  suggestive  of  bigness  rather  than  of 
grandeur,  of  purse  pride  and  the  gloom  of  a  decay- 
ing patriciate.  Were  the  Grand  Canal  lined  with 
a  succession  of  Grimani  palaces,  had  Palladio  built 
St.  Mark's  and  Scamozzi  the  Ducal  Palace,  Venice, 
incomparable  in  beauty,  would  never  have  been. 
For  it  is  not  the  Lagoon  and  the  canals,  not  the 
turquoise  sky  or  gorgeous  sunsets,  not  even  the 
strangeness  of  her  site,  that  make  Venice:  it  is 
the  beautiful  works  of  man.  With  Longhena  the 
series  of  great  builders  ends.  In  the  Pesaro  and 
Rezzonico  palaces   he   reached   the  limit  of   neo- 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  237 

classic  correctness,  in  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria 
della  Salute  he  foreshadowed  the  Baroque,  which 
he  elaborated  in  the  Church  of  the  Scalzi.  The 
cycle  of  evolution  had  come  round:  after  long 
trials.  Beauty,  then  Correctness,  then  Rigidity,  and 
at  last,  in  the  attempt  to  break  loose  from  the 
strait-jacket.  Contortion,  Whim,  Folly. 

Venice  can  boast  of  no  preeminent  sculptors, 
although  her  buildings  are  covered  with  beautiful 
carvings.  Sculpture  was  subordinated  to  architec- 
ture, and  not  until  the  Renaissance  does  it  stand 
out  as  a  separate  art,  Byzantine  workmen  proba- 
bly chiseled  the  earliest  remaining  decorations,  and 
Florentines  cut  many,  if  not  all,  of  the  capitals  for 
the  fagades  of  the  Ducal  Palace.  Who  designed 
the  groups  at  the  angles  of  the  Palace,  or  those 
tombs  of  the  earlier  doges,  which  breathe  the  spirit 
of  piety  and  awe  ?  Their  names  are  unknown  or 
disputed.  Not  a  Venetian,  but  a  Florentine,  Andrea 
Verrocchio,  created  the  model  of  the  equestrian 
statue  of  Colleoni,  a  masterpiece  for  which  the 
succeeding  four  centuries  have  furnished  no  peer. 
The  Renaissance  sculptors  —  Leopardo,  Sansovino, 
Vittoria  —  were  prolific  producers,  but  with  few 
exceptions  their  works  were  primarily  architectu- 
ral. It  is  from  the  ducal  monuments  in  the 
churches  of  the  Frari  and  of  Sts.  John  and  Paul 
that  we  can  trace,  as  in  an  epitome,  the  course  of 
sculpture  at  Venice:  from  the  earnest  piety  ex- 
pressed in  the  tomb  of  Michele  Morosini  (died  1382), 
and  the  solemnity  in  that  of  Tommaso  Mocenigo 


238  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

(died  1423),  to  the  vulgar  display,  extravagance,  and 
ugliness  in  that  of  Giovanni  Pesaro  (died  1G58). 
Longhena  designed  the  last,  in  which  he  appropri- 
ately made  the  figure  of  the  Doge  insignificant ;  one 
sees  first  and  remembers  longest  the  colossal  negro 
slaves,  through  whose  torn  breeches  the  black  mar- 
ble shows,  and  the  absurd,  underfed  monsters, 
which  are  too  big  and  clumsy  for  pets  and  too 
meek  for  dragons.  Sculpture,  like  Architecture, 
had  sunk  into  the  Baroque. 

Painting  was  the  youngest  of  the  arts  at  Venice. 
Down  to  the  fifteenth  century  the  wooden  Byzantine 
religious  paintings,  in  truth  mere  icons,  prevailed. 
From  1432  dates  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  by 
Jacopo  del  Fiore,  which,  though  stiff  and  archaic, 
is  no  longer  Byzantine.  Close  on  Jacopo  follow 
Bartolommeo  and  Alvise  Vivarini  and  Andrea  da 
Murano,  in  whose  works  there  is  a  less  formal  wor- 
ship and  a  further  progress  toward  technical  skill. 
Contemporary  with  them  was  Jacopo  Bellini,  the 
father  of  Gentile  and  Giovanni,  who  flourished 
during  the  last  quarter  of  the  century.  Gentile  Bel- 
lini (1421-1507)  painted  the  pageants  of  his  time, 
filling  his  canvases  with  splendidly  clothed  patri- 
cians and  clerics,  and  taking  care  to  be  accurate,  yet 
in  no  slavish,  pettifogging  way.  With  Giovanni 
Bellini  (1426-1516)  we  come  to  a  master  of  almost 
the  first  rank.  He  imagined  Madonnas  of  a  new 
type,  human,  innocent,  dignified,  without  either  the 
cloying  simplesse  of  the  Umbrian  primitives,  or 
the  careworn  soberness  of  Botticelli's  Madonnas. 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  239 

\e  faces  of  his  holy  men  and  women  are  stamped 
•acter;  his  cherubs  in  the  Frari  triptych 
7eliest  flesh-and-blood  little  boys  ever  put 
and  the  best  of  his  portraits  —  that  of 
..  juoredano  —  falls  little  below  the  highest. 
.le  chose  for  the  most  part  religious  subjects,  as 
did  also  Carlo  Crivelli,  Cima  da  Conegliano,  Basaiti, 
Catena,  and  their  fellows ;  but  already  the  spirit  of 
Venice  penetrated  their  work,  and  religion  as  they 
portrayed  it  meant  neither  other-worldliness  nor  as- 
ceticism. More  poetic  was  Carpaccio  (1470?-lol9), 
a  painter  whose  picturesque  subjects  appeal  to 
every  one,  and  whose  spirit  certain  fortunate  persons 
are  born  to  delight  in  just  as  others  feel  the  spell  of 
Spenser  among  poets.  In  the  Legend  of  St.  Ursula 
he  chronicled  the  splendid  life  of  Venice,  scenes  in 
which  handsome  youths  and  lovely  maidens,  high- 
bred senators  and  stately  matrons,  are  touched  with 
indefinable  grace ;  or  in  St.  Ursula's  Dream,  he 
painted  virgin  innocence;  or,  in  the  Presentation, 
he  expressed  deep  religious  sentiment.  Happy 
those  artists  whose  works  are  a  perpetual  May  time, 
fresh,  joyous,  delightful,  even  a  little  incomplete, 
prophetic  of  a  later  fruitage  and  harvest :  Carpaccio 
was  one  of  these. 

All  these  men  felt  the  influence  of  Giovanni  Bel- 
lini, most  of  them  being  his  pupils ;  and  from  his 
studio,  near  the  end  of  the  century,  issued  two  youths 
who  soon  lifted  Venetian  Painting  to  its  zenith.  One 
of  these,  Giorgione  (1477-1511),  —  Big  George  of 
Castelf ranco,  —  embodied,  to  judge  by  his  few  remain- 


240  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

ing  works,  the  uncormpted  joy  of  living.     Beings  of 
exuberant  health  who  throb  with  primal  passior 
a  landscape  where  trees  grow  luxuriantly  and  r" 
less  flowers  bloom;  all  pervaded  by  a  strange,  sl 
beauty  and  glowing  with  such  colors  as  no  eai 
painter  imagined  —  this  is  what  Giorgione  pain 
To  call  it  Pagan  does  not  define  it,  for  Pagan  s.. 
gests   comparison,  if  not  conflict,  with   Christian. 
Giorgione  did  not  analyze,   much   less  theologize. 
He  drank  life  in  great  draughts  like  wine :  and  we 
look  at  his  superb  creations  with  no  more  concern 
for  moral  or  unmoral  considerations  than  when  we 
watch  a  leopard  at  play  or  a  mountain  stream  flash- 
ing on  its  way  to  the  valley.     Yet  before  he  died, 
his  thirty-fourth  year  unfinished,  he  had  fathomed 
character,  as  his  portraits  show.     The  man  at  the 
harpsichord  (in  The  Concert)  was  no  Pagan. 

Titian  of  Cadore  (1477-1576),  ripening  in  Gior- 
gione's  companionship,  and  outliving  him  more  than 
threescore  years,^  carried  forward  the  splendor  of 
color  into  every  field.  His  range  of  theme  was  ency- 
clopedic, his  mastery  almost  unfailing.  You  will 
search  his  hundreds  of  canvases  in  vain  for  eccen- 
tricities. He  never  tried  to  startle,  never  stooped 
to  tricks,  but  painted  straightforwardly.  I  doubt 
whether  any  other  genius  in  any  art  has  left  so  many 
works  of  such  uniform  excellence.  Yet  he  has  never 
the  monotony  of  dead-level  output.     In  his  steadi- 

1 1  accept  1477  as  the  year  of  Titian's  birth ;  recent  sugges- 
tions that  he  was  born  later  do  not  appear  to  be  proved .  Neither 
is  the  fantastic  attribution  to  Titian  of  The  Concert  proved. 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  241 

ness,  his  capacity  for  taking  up  each  subject  and  con- 
pering  it,  and  in  his  power  of  continuous  labor,  he 
best  represents  the  spirit  of  the  Venetian  Eepublic. 
nad  to  perfection  the  culture  of  the  Eenaissance. 
<velcoming  with  the  same  hospitality  Christian 
story  and  classic  myth,  saints  and  satyrs,  apostles 
and  nymphs,  the  God  of  Christendom  and  the  gods 
of  Olympus,  —  he  turned  from  one  to  another  with 
a  noble  impartiality.  In  his  enlightened  worldli- 
ness,  he  reminds  us  of  Goethe,  but  Titian  was  pos- 
sessed by  the  spirit  of  beauty  to  a  degree  unknown 
in  Germany.  We  sometimes  miss  in  him  the  vernal 
charm  of  Giorgione  and  the  imagination  of  Tintoret, 
but  he  never  disappoints  us  by  ill-wrought  concep- 
tions. He  attempts  nothing  which  he  cannot  achieve 
without  apparent  effort.  He  disdains  the  ignoble. 
Could  anything  be  more  adequate  than  the  mis- 
named Sacred  and  Profane  Love,  or  the  Three  Ages 
of  Man,  or  the  Pesaro  Madonna,  or  the  Assumption, 
or  the  Danaes  and  the  Venuses,  or  the  small  Holy 
Family  at  the  Uffizi,  or  the  Flora,  or  the  John  the 
Baptist  ?  Splendid  as  these  are,  yet  we  may  almost 
affirm  that  Titian's  genius  culminated  in  portraiture. 
If  his  portraits  could  be  hung  on  one  wall  of  a  gal- 
lery, opposite  the  masterpieces  of  all  other  portrait 
painters  —  Titian  against  the  world  —  we  could  best 
understand  his  primacy;  we  should  see  his  inde- 
fectible technique,  his  probing  of  character,  his 
certainty  of  making  a  permanent  likeness,  qualities 
in  which  some  of  his  rivals  have  equaled  him  :  and 
then  we  should  have  to  add  in  his  favor  his  coloring 


242  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

and  the  impress  of  beauty,  those  inalienable  gifts 
of  his,  which,  whether  in  his  portraits  or  in  his 
ideal  canvases,  glorify  and  individualize  all  his 
work. 

If  Titian  is  the  supreme  Venetian  painter,  Tinto- 
ret  (1512-1594)  is  the  supreme  thinker :  a  man  of 
inexhaustible  fertility,  who  like  Shakespeare  took 
any  theme,  old  or  new,  recast  ir,  transmuted  its  base 
metal  into  gold,  and  sent  it  forth  imperishably  origi- 
nal. With  Tintoret,  as  with  Shakespeare,  the  story 
to  be  told  was  of  more  consequence  than  its  form ; 
and  as  his  genius  teemed  with  ideas,  he  sometimes 
tried  to  express  those  for  which  painting  is  not  the 
best  medium.  He  worked  with  such  terrible  swift- 
ness that  his  contemporaries  nicknamed  him  "  The 
Thunderbolt,"  and  charged  him  with  carelessness ; 
for  to  them  he  seemed  bent  on  astonishing,  where- 
as he  was  really  striving  to  release  the  swarming 
creatures  of  his  imagination.  Coming  in  the  after- 
noon of  Italian  painting,  when  the  treatment  of 
V  religious  subjects  had  been  reduced  to  formulas, 
he  neither  followed  the  conventional  patterns  nor 
copied  himself.  The  theme  that  inspired  him 
brought  its  own  design.  Having  the  true  artist's 
insatiable  desire  to  test  his  art  in  all  its  possibili- 
ties, he  experimented  in  many  styles :  we  find  him 
making  a  daring  study,  now  in  perspective,  now  in 
shadows,  now  in  reflected  lights;  or,  as  a  sort  of 
haughty  rejoinder  to  his  critics,  he  dashes  off  a 
picture  which  they  mistake  for  Titian's  or  Paul's, 
with  whose  superiority  they  had  taunted  him.     To 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  243 

judge  Tintoret  fairly,  we  must  often  determine 
whether  his  ruling  motive  in  a  given  work  deals 
with  the  form  or  the  substance.  In  his  master- 
pieces, the  two  blend.  He  was  a  painter  with  a 
message,  but  like  Shakespeare  he  leaves  the  be- 
holder to  deduce  the  message  for  himself.  He  had 
swept  up  and  down  through  all  human  experience, 
from  despair  to  perfect  joy.  No  other  picture  is  so 
tragic  as  his  Crucifixion,  none  more  pathetic  than 
his  Christ  before  Pilate.  In  a  different  style,  the 
Ariadne  and  Bacchus  and  the  Mercury  and  the 
Graces  have  no  rivals.  There  is  no  other  genius 
whom  Tintoret  so  closely  resembles  as  Shake- 
speare; but  Shakespeare  lived  in  the  formative 
stage  of  the  English  drama,  when  all  was  plastic, 
while  Tintoret  found  painting  already  chilled  and 
hampered  by  traditions,  in  spite  of  which  he  filled 
his  canvases  with  conceptions  utterly  original.  An 
unfailing  imagination  and  a  power  to  vitalize  even 
the  slightest  of  his  creations  set  him  in  a  class  by 
himself  among  painters. 

Paul  Veronese  (1528-1588),  his  younger  contem- 
porary, was  the  painter  of  pageants,  —  not  of  mere 
display,  but  of  pageants  which  were  in  themselves 
beautiful  w^orks  of  art  — and  in  scenes  which  shone 
with  splendor  and  with  health.  Many  of  his  people 
might  be  dwellers  in  the  Elysian  Fields,  looking 
neither  before  nor  after,  but  satisfied  with  the 
joyous  magnificence  of  the  present.  He  was  a 
master  decorator,  competent  alike  to  cover  half 
the  ceiling  of  the  Great  Council  with  Venice  En- 


244  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

throned,  or  to  fill  the  small  spaces  of  the  Aiiti- 
Collegio  Chamber  with  ravishing  allegorical  fig- 
ures. And  yet  he  too  knew  the  meaning  of  sorrow, 
witness  the  Crucifixion  at  S.  Sebastiano,  although 
he  dedicated  himself  to  the  service  of  joy. 

Titian,  Tintoret,  and  Paul  made  glorious  the  six- 
teenth century  at  Venice,  and  there  worked  with 
them,  either  as  pupils,  colleagues,  or  rivals,  many 
men  of  great  ability.  Palma  the  Elder,  Paris  Bor- 
done,  Sebastiano  del  Piombo,  Bonifazio,  Lorenzo 
Lotto  —  each  of  these  deserves  a  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  Italian  painting ;  but  although  each  achieved 
his  masterpiece,  and  some  of  them  more  than  one, 
their  combined  talents  would  not  place  them  on 
the  heights  which  these  three  and  Giorgione  com- 
manded. With  Tintoret's  death,  painting  declined, 
but  the  great  tradition  lived  on:  and  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  just  before  the  extinction  of  the 
Eepublic,  there  was  a  not  unmemorable  revival, 
when  Tiepolo  called  to  mind  the  energy  of  Tintoret 
and  the  decorative  charm  of  Paul;  and  Canaletto, 
Guardi,  and  Longhi  painted  with,  fidelity  but  not 
servilely  the  canals  and  buildings  and  scenes  from 
the  life  of  the  nobles  and  the  people. 
'  Venetian  Painting  has  three  glories  —  Color,  Keal- 
ity.  Beauty.  Its  masters  played  on  the  emotions 
through  an  intuitive  sense  of  Color,  as  composers 
sway  the  heart  by  music.  To  pass  from  their 
pictures  to  those  of  other  schools  is  like  passing 
from  the  glow  and  luxuriance  of  June  to  Novem- 
ber, with  its  sepia  bleakness.    The  Venetians  used 


\ 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  245 

Color  with  superb  largesse,  but  never  to  excess: 
they  never  added  it  for  effect  —  like  the  pigments 
which  the  savage  tattoos  on  his  body;  it  flows  as 
naturally  from  their  pencils,  as  from  Nature  in  a 
rose  garden.  It  exalts  and  delights ;  and  proves  to 
be  an  aesthetic  medium  as  significant  as  form. 

The  Venetian  painters,  from  Gentile  Bellini  to 
Tintoret,  glorified  Reality.  They  were  not  realists 
of  the  modern  sort,  with  a  morbid  appetite  for  the 
squalid,  the  vulgar,  the  hideous,  the  vile.  They 
were  men  whom  existence  intoxicated.  They 
might  say,  with  Browning's  Saul:  — 

"  How  good  is  man's  life,  the  mere  living  !  how  fit  to  employ 
All  the  heart  and  the  soul  and  the  senses  forever  in  joy  ! " 

Their  conditions  were  so  pleasant,  above  all  Venice 
was  so  incomparably  dear  and  lovely,  an  earthly 
paradise,  that  they  did  not  labor  to  conceive  an 
imaginary  heaven,  but  just  took  her  for  the  scene 
of  even  their  religious  paintings.  So  they  preferred 
subjects  familiar  to  every  Venetian,  and  they 
peopled  their  canvases  with  the  men  and  women 
about  them,  a  little  idealized,  perhaps,  yet  still  es- 
sentially real.  As  they  were  healthy,  they  instinct- 
ively chose  to  portray  health.  Other  painters,  the 
pensive  Umbrians  or  the  introspective  Florentines, 
sometimes  followed  too  far  the  ascetic  precepts  of 
their  Church  and  represented  saints  and  angels  as 
thin  and  haggard  beings,  too  frail  for  this  world, 
overladen  with  piety  or  harried  by  conscience. 
They  sometimes  subtracted  all  that  they  could  from 


246  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  human,  without  reducing  it  to  a  ghost,  and  be- 
lieved that  the  residue  was  spiritual.  The  Vene- 
tians, on  the  contrary,  revered  the  human,  and 
simply  magnified  it  in  order  to  attain  the  fittest 
incarnation  of  the  heavenly.  They  shunned  other- 
worldliness,  for  to  them  this  world  was  the  great 
reality.  They  worshiped  life  and  not  its  nega- 
tion. Had  there  been  no  Tintoret,  we  might 
almost  have  assumed  that  the  Venetians  were  a 
great  people  who  had,  strangely,  never  been  awed 
by  the  eternal  problems  of  man's  origin  and  des- 
tiny. After  making  what  deductions  we  will  for 
the  claims  of  pride  and  of  glory,  and  for  the  entice- 
ments of  luxury,  we  must  realize  that  the  Venetian 
painters  glorified  the  human  as  the  highest  revela- 
tion of  the  divine.  They  accepted  life  with  a 
large,  joyous  faith,  and  succeeded  in  portraying 
Keality  in  terms  of  Beauty. 

That  gift  of  Beauty  sets  them  apart  from  all 
other  painters.  It  was  an  instinct  which  every- 
thing conspired  to  make  their  ruling  passion.  It 
should  be,  whatever  confused  prophets  of  ugliness 
may  say,  the  final  purpose  of  all  art.  Velasquez, 
the  great  Spaniard,  Rembrandt,  the  great  Dutch- 
man, may  equal  or  surpass  the  master  Venetians 
in  technique;  but  they  fall  far  behind  them  in 
their  feeling  for  Beauty.  Titian  would  have  held, 
and  with  reason,  that  the  Lesson  in  Anatomy  was 
not  a  proper  subject  for  painting.  We  must  go 
back  to  the  Greek  sculptors  of  the  age  of  Scopas 
and  Praxiteles,  to  find  a  body  of  artists  who,  like 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  247 

the  Venetians,  produced  work  radiant  with  Beauty 
and  Health. 

By  a  happy  coincidence,  which  has  never  been 
repeated,  Venice  was  able  to  express  through  Paint- 
ing the  whole  range  of  human  interests.  Elsewhere 
this  has  been  done  by  literature  only,  and  only 
three  or  four  times.  The  Venetian  painter  might 
draw  his  inspiration  from  either  the  Old  Testament 
or  the  New,  from  the  stories  of  Christian  saints 
and  martyrs,  and  from  the  teachings  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church ;  or  he  might  seek  his  subject  in  classi- 
cal antiquity,  in  the  mythologies  of  Greece  and 
Eome,  in  the  ideals  of  Paganism,  seen  through  the 
iridescent  atmosphere  of  Humanism ;  or  his  im- 
agination might  be  kindled  by  Venezia  herself, 
and  embody  on  canvas  episodes  in  her  glorious 
history,  views  of  her  actual  pageants,  illustrations 
of  her  legends,  allegories  of  her  power  and  splendor 
and  ideals ;  or  he  might  perpetuate  the  faces  of  her 
men  and  women;  or  create  the  first  great  land- 
scapes. Thus  the  three  streams  of  religious  sub- 
jects—  Hebrew,  Christian,  and  Catholic  —  united 
at  Venice  with  the  streams  of  Classical  Mythology, 
of  national  interests,  of  portraiture,  and  of  landscape, 
as  they  have  never  done  elsewhere. 

These  various  influences  combined  to  provide  an 
unrivaled  wealth  of  material,  and  Destiny  favored 
the  Venetian  masters  yet  further  by  letting  them 
flourish  after  the  drudgery  of  their  art  had  been 
performed  by  others,  and  thus  allowing  them  to 
rise  swiftly  to  that  perfection  of  skill  by  which 


248  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

they  achieved  their  work  with  apparent  ease.  They 
were  fortunate  in  coming,  not  only  at  the  culmina- 
tion of  Painting,  but  at  the  moment  when  they 
could  benefit  to  the  full  from  the  best  spirit  of  the 
Renaissance.  As  the  Renaissance  penetrated  to 
Venice  later  than  to  her  Italian  neighbors,  it 
kindled  in  her  a  noble  enthusiasm  for  culture  a 
generation  after  it  had  led  to  decadence  among 
them ;  and,  thanks  to  her  more  solid  and  conserva- 
tive character,  she  long  resisted  its  demoralizing 
tendencies.  As  a  final  help  to  totality  of  expression, 
costume  —  which  counts  for  so  much  in  Painting  — 
was  beautiful  both  in  cut  and  color  at  Venice  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 

So  it  is  that  her  masters  address  us  from  the 
height  of  a  civilization  which  embraced  all  the  then 
known  world  and  all  the  past  in  its  ken.  Compared 
with  Titian's  breadth  of  culture  and  Tintoret's 
cosmic  outlook,  the  range  of  subjects  covered  by 
Velasquez  or  by  Rembrandt  is  narrow  and  their 
treatment  provincial.  Velasquez  speaks  to  us  out 
of  the  Spain  of  Philip  IV,  the  Spain  whose  message 
was  decay  —  national,  moral,  and  intellectual  decay. 
Rembrandt  did,  indeed,  tally  with  a  period  of 
national  vigor  in  Holland,  but  the  spirit  of  the 
Dutch  has  always  been  provincial,  the  counterpole 
of  the  Renaissance. 

To  the  Painting  of  Venice  we  must  turn,  there- 
fore, if  we  would  see  the  truest  expression  of  the 
genius  of  a  race  which  had  known  how  to  overcome 
incredible  physical   difficulties,  had  conquered  its 


XI  VENETIAN  CIVILIZATION  249 

enemies,  and  had  risen  naturally  to  a  magnificent 
and  balanced  scale  of  life.  That  expression,  in  its 
Color,  its  Eeality,  and  its  Beauty,  remains  one  of 
the  most  precious  revelations  of  Art,  a  legacy  such 
as  only  Greece  has  bequeathed  for  the  joy  and  ex- 
altation of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  LOSS  OF  CYPRUS 

What  is  the  real  life  of  a  man,  the  true  history 
of  a  people  ?  How  far  shall  the  historian,  looking 
backward  over  the  centuries  of  a  nation's  decline, 
color  his  pages  with  the  wisdom  of  retrospect? 

\j  ^The  Peace  of  Cambrai,  in  1529,  left  Venice  a  medi- 
ocre power,  —  the  historian  to-daj^  sees  that  clearly ; 
but  throughout  the  sixteenth  century  neither  she 
nor  her  contemporaries  saw  it.  They  knew  that 
her  prestige  had  suffered,  that  the  tide  of  sea  com- 
merce had  set  away  from  her,  that  her  hold  on  the 
Orient  was  slackening;  but  outwardly  these  dis- 
asters hardly  appeared.  Her  magnificence  dazzled 
more  than  ever  before.  Her  wealth  seemed  in- 
exhaustible. Her  vigor,  judged  by  the  well-being 
of  all  classes  of  her  people,  seemed  unimpaired* 
Her  patricians  had  the  assured  port  of  a  race  to 
whom  conquest  and  prosperity  had  been  hereditary 
for  five  hundred  years.  Above  all,  in  the  century 
between  the  coming  of  Charles  VIII  (1494)  and  the 

^        death  of  Tintoret  (1594),  Venice  blazed  in  a  glory  of 

art,  so  beautiful,  so  strong,  so  healthy,  that  one  is 

loath  to  believe,  even  now,  that  it  signalized  decay. 

Confronted  by  these  contrasts,  we  ask,  Which  was 

250 


CHAP,  xii  THE   LOSS  OF  CYPRUS  251 

the  real  Venice  ?  How  shall  the  historian  make  it 
evident  that,  while  the  political  power  was  sinking 
into  decrepitude,  the  social  capital  and  home  of  art 
was  gloriously  alive  ? 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  enemies  of  the 
Republic  shatter  her  empire  forever,  the  young 
Giorgione  and  the  young  Titian  are  conquering  for 
her  a  new  empire,  which  shall  last  as  long  as  one  of 
their  canvases  remains.  Sixty  years  later,  when  the 
Turk  wrests  Cyprus  from  her,  and  with  Cyprus  goes 
the  great  witness  of  her  dominion  in  the  East, 
Tintoret  and  Paul  Veronese  are  covering  the  walls 
of  her  Ducal  Palace  with  records  of  her  grandeur, 
which  they  thought  imperishable.  The  relation  be- 
tween a  nation's  political  condition  and  a  golden  age 
in  its  art  or  letters  is  too  intricate  to  be  explained  by  a 
general  rule.  Genius  still  evades  scientific  scrutiny. 
We  have  fallen  into  the  strange  error  of  regarding 
the  few  masters  who  create  the  world's  poems, 
pictures,  statues,  stories,  as  representative  men : 
whereas  they  are  of  all  men  the  most  unrepresenta- 
tive men,  being  so  highly  individualized  as  to  be  the 
exceptions  to  all.  Wealth  and  war  also  often  give 
a  false  measure  of  a  nation's  real  strength.  Thus, 
during  the  blackest  days  of  the  Cambrai  Coalition, 
when  Venice  had  been  driven  from  Terra  Firma, 
she  abated  nothing  in  the  gorgeousness  of  her 
pageants  at  home.  The  very  grandees  who  would 
not  respond  to  the  Doge's  call  for  contributions  for 
defense,  lavished  their  wealth  on  sumptuous  enter- 
tainments, and  the  state  itself,  while  it  officially 


252  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

strove  to  check  private  extravagance,  connived  at 
public  display.  Which  of  these  is  the  vital 
symptom  —  the  battle  lost  or  the  poured-out 
wealth  ? 

These  questions  rise  continually  as  we  survey 
Venice  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Many  observers 
have  been  led  astray  because  they  attached  a  wrong 
symptomatic  value  to  politics,  War,  finance,  or  to  the 
wonderful  efflorescence  of  the  fine'  arts  at  this 
period.  Especially  must  we  take  care  not  to  mix 
physical  causes  in  considering  the  products  of  the 
imagination.  Many  a  consumptive  has  begotten 
works  glowing  with  health ;  many  an  aged  master 
has  enriched  the  world  with  creations  of  fadeless 
youth.  So,  in  the  case  of  Venice,  you  must  go 
behind  the  disease  and  the  old  age  if  you  would 
discover  the  source  of  her  glorious  paintings. 
Deeper,  ever  deeper,  must  be  the  search  for  historic 
causes.  He  alone  who  knew  all  human  history 
could  explain  any  fact.  Let  us,  therefore,  be 
unready  to  accept  hasty  explanations. 

In  the  course  of  this  sketch  I  have  tried  to  show 
how  the  unique  conditions  under  which  Venice 
was  born  and  grew  wp  favored  her  early  maturity. 
While  the  rest  of  Western  Europe  was  engaged 
in  almost  unceasing  warfare,  she  was  busy  in  com- 
merce. Long  before  the  states  which  were  to  spring 
out  of  the  wreck  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  to  form 
the  modern  world  had  taken  shape,  she  had  de- 
veloped an  intricate  political  system,  perfectly 
adapted  to  her  needs.     So  she  had  wealth,  civili- 


XII  THE  LOSS  OF  CYPRUS  253 

zation,  and  a  stable  government  far  in  advance  of 
her  neighbors.  She  had  always  been  independent. 
Her  polity,  the  perfectly  natural  outcome  of  her 
experience,  was  not,  like  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire, 
an  echo,  an  imitation.  For  centuries  she  enjoyed 
the  advantages  which  a  middle-aged  person  has 
over  a  parcel  of  youths;  now,  they  had  grown 
up,  and  she  was  old.  And  not  age  merely  threatened, 
her,  but  strange  and  thwarting  conditions,  under 
which,  had  they  always  existed,  she  could  never 
have  flourished.  She  had  stored  up  so  much 
strength,  her  constitution  was  so  sound,  her  sa- 
gacity and  knowledge  of  the  arts  of  life  were  so 
seasoned,  that  she  was  able  to  resist  for  a  long  time 
the  double  evils  of  changed  conditions  and  old  age. 
It  was  as  if  a  venerable  sequoia  should  be  trans- 
planted to  an  alien  climate,  in  which  it  must  slowly 
but  inevitably  decay. 

The  interest  in  the  last  centuries  of  the  existence 
of  Venice  lies  chiefly  in  seeing  how  she  faced  the 
younger  world,  which  she  could  not  hope  to  master, 
so  that  she  succeeded  almost  to  the  end  in  appear- 
ing, outwardly  at  least,  every  inch  a  queen.  v 

Let  us  examine,  first,  her  imperial  relations,  which 
tested  her  physical  vigor.  The  wars  of  Cambrai 
cut  off  her  hope  of  expansion  on  Terra  Firma.  Her 
alliance  against  France  when  France  was  defeated, 
and  her  alliance  against  Spain  when  Spain  was  vic- 
torious, warned  her  to  be  neutral  in  the  further 
contests  of  the  powers.  But  in  the  East  there  lay 
waiting  an  adversary  toward  whom,  when  he  chose 


254  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

to  spring,  she  could  not  remain  impassive.  Her 
great  business  henceforth  was  to  resist  the  en- 
,  croachments  of  the  Turk  —  a  struggle  which  she 
kept  up  gallantly,  though  with  evident  loss  from 
decade  to  decade,  until  she  and  her  adversary  had 
worn  themselves  out. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  the 
Ottomans  were  ruled  by  a  series  of  sultans  of  singu- 
lar ability,  warriors  lit  to  lead  a  host  thirsting 
terribly  for  conquest,  statesmen  capable  of  organiz- 
ing and  governing  the  empire  which  they  so  rapidly 
acquired.  Only  two  Christian  powers,  Hungary 
and  Venice,  bordered  on  the  Turkish  dominions. 
It  fell  to  Hungary  to  oppose  the  Turkish  invaders 
who  poured  through  the  Balkan  passes  and  swept 
up  the  valley  of  the  Danube  in  their  hope  of  pierc- 
ing to  the  heart  of  Europe.  The  heroic  deeds 
of  the  Magyars  in  those  wars  make  the  brightest 
chapters  in  the  history  of  Hungary.  Time  after 
/lime  the  Turk  was  driven  back;  but  at  last,  in 
T.526,  Solyman  the  Magnificent  returned  with  an 
army  of  three  hundred  thousand  men ;  he  took  Bel- 
grade and  Peterwardein ;  at  Mohacs  (August  29, 
1526)  he  utterly  routed  the  Hungarian  king,  Louis 
II,  who  was  killed ;  and  on  September  10  he  made 
his  triumphant  entry  into  Buda.  This  left  Venice 
to  cope  unaided  in  the  Levant  and  on  the  sea  with 
SolymanV 

Ever  since  her  earlier  wars,  which  ended  in  the 
disaster  at  Sapienza  (1499),  she  had  studiously 
avoided  a  rupture.      She   winced   at   the   loss   of 


xn  THE  LOSS   OF  CYPRUS  255 

prestige,  she  writhed  at  the  loss  of  territory,  but, 
commerce  being  more  necessary  to  her  than  pride, 
she  paid  the  Turk  —  not  a  tribute,  she  would  not 
call  it  that  —  for  permission  to  trade  in  his  empire. 
Real  peace  did  not  exist.  Turkish  pirates  —  the 
most  famous  of  whom,  Chaireddin  Barbarossa, 
was  in  Solyman's  service  —  preyed  on  Venetian 
shipping.  Between  the  vessels  of  the  two  coun- 
tries there  were  frequent  conflicts,  any  of  which 
might  have  been  an  excuse  for  war.  The  Turks 
took  one  small  island  after  another  in  the  Archi- 
pelago, the  Venetian  owners  being  unable  to  defend 
themselves. 
/  In  1537,  Barbarossa  prepared  to  conquer  Corfu. 
Driven  from  her  inaction,  Venice  joined  an  alliance 
with  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  to  fight  the  Sul- 
tan, who  was  in  league  with  the  French  king. 
Although  her  allies  did  not  furnish  the  support 
they  had  promised,  she  succeeded  at  first  in  expel- 
ling Barbarossa  from  Corfu.  He  took  his  revenge, 
however,  in  seizing  several  smaller  islands,  and  as 
he  could  move  swiftly,  he  easily  harassed  the  Vene- 
tian armament,  hampered  by  the  cross-purposes  of 
its  allies.  By  1540,  when  she  had  spent  much  and 
lost  much,  and  despaired  of  receiving  from  Charles 
V  the  large  aid  he  had  pledged,  she  sued  for  peac^ 
She  secretly  authorized  her  ambassador  to  agree  as 
a  last  resort  to  cede  Nauplia  and  Malvasia ;  through 
treachery  her  instructions  were  whispered  to  the 
French  ambassador  at  Venice,  who  communicated 
them   to  the  Sultan ;   and   before  granting   peace, 


256  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Solyman  naturally  insisted  on  the  cession  of  those 
two  cities. 

/During  the  next  thirty  years  the  Republic,  by 
swallowing  provocations  and  by  scattering  apolo- 
gies, avoided  open  warfare  with  the  Turk»  Time 
was  when  she  would  have  accepted  the  fir/t  hint  of 
a  challenge;  now  she  consulted  her  weakness  and 
was  polite.  The  Turk  knew  her  weakness  too,  and 
after  he  had  glutted  himself  in  Hungary  and  else- 
where, he  turned  to  Venice  in  search  of  spoils. 
Solyman  the  Magnificent  died  in  1566 ;  his  son  and 
successor,  Selim  the  Toper,  was  the  puppet  of  a 
Portuguese  Jew,  Nassi,  on  whom  he  conferred  the 
title  of  Duke  of  Naxos.  Although  they  thrust  one 
quarrel  after  another  at  Venice,  she  declined  to 
stir.  Nassi  goaded  Selim  on  to  seize  Cyprus  by 
telling  him  of  the  rare  wines  the  island  produced  ; 
and  Selim  promised  to  make  Nassi  king  of  Cyprus 
as  soon  as  it  was  theirs.  So  runs  the  legend.  At 
any  rate,  the  Grand  Vizier  hinted  to  the  Venetian 
hailo  at  Constantinople  that,  as  Cyprus  had  belonged 
to  the  Soldan  of  Cairo,  whose  realm  had  been  con- 
quered by  the  Turks,  it  was  now  by  right  theirs. 
Bailo  Barbarigo  denied  this  claim :  but  the  Turk 
was  not  to  be  stopped  by  a  little  historical  slip ; 
and  when  an  envoy  soon  after  demanded  at  Venice 
the  cession  of  Cyprus,  and  was  answered  that  the 
Signory  would  defend  it  to  the  last  ditch,  war  was 
unavoidable. 

The  Venetians  may  well   have  had   misgivings, 
for  the  total  population  of  the  Republic,  including 


XII  THE  LOSS  OF  CYPRUS  257 

its  dependencies,  could  not  have  exceeded  two 
million  souls.  Cyprus  itself  was  thought  to  num- 
ber only  one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand.  The 
Venetians  had  been  great  sailors,  but  never  great 
soldiers,  and  their  long  employment  of  mercenaries 
tended,  with  their  prosperity,  to  unfit  them  for  war. 
Nevertheless,  they  prepared  with  old-time  vigor  for 
the  encounter  on  which  their  own  supremacy  and 
the  very  existence  of  Christians  throughout  the 
Orient  was  believed  to  hang.  They  levied  troops, 
equipped  a  fleet,  and  sent  munitions  to  Cyprus. 
Some  of  their  powerful  nobles  raised  regiments  at 
their  own  charge:  Girolamo  Martinengo  mustered 
two  thousand  men  in  the  Piazza  of  St.  Mark.  En- 
voys hurried  westward  to  Portugal  and  eastward  to 
Persia  to  seek  allies.  The  King  of  Muscovy  and 
the  Sophy  were  besought  to  join  Western  Christen- 
dom in  a  supreme  effort  to  crush  the  Moslem, 
whose  further  progress  might  mean  the  destruction 
of  European  civilization.  These  appeals  bore  little 
fruit.  The  world  held  its  old  opinion  that,  as  Ven- 
ice chiefly  was  interested  in  Oriental  commerce, 
she  ought  not  to  rely  upon  her  neighbors  to  fight 
for  her.  And  by  this  time  the  Eeformation  had 
so  split  up  every  Catholic  country,  that  its  first 
concern  was  to  stamp  out  its  religious  enemies  at 
home.  The  hatred  of  Papist  for  Protestant  and  of 
Protestant  for  Papist  far  exceeded  the  hatred  of 
either  for  Mohammedans.  /.Only  Spain  and  the 
Pope  promised  aicL 

Cyprus  itself,  besides  its  small  population,  was 


258  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

not  properly  organized  to  furnish  an  effective  army 
of  defense.  The  feudal  government,  based  on  the 
Crusaders'  Assizes,  had  been  retained  after  Venice 
took  the  is]and.  There  were  a  few  hundred  nobles, 
a  few  thousand  urban  folk ;  the  rest,  part  Cypriots, 
part  Copts  and  Armenians,  were  ill-treated  serfs, 
with  cause  enough  for  hating  their  masters. 
Although  the  islanders  must  necessarily  look  to 
Venice  for  help  against  invasion,  they  nevertheless 
pushed  forward  their  preparations  as  ably  as  could 
be  expected  with  such  material. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1570  the  Venetian  arma- 
ment, commanded  by  Girolamo  Zane,  sailed  down 
the  Adriatic  to  Zara,  where  it  wasted  several  weeks. 
Thence  it  proceeded  to  Corfu  and  was  joined  by 
forty-nine  Spanish  galleys  under  Gian  Andrea 
Doria  and  by  twelve  Papal  galleys  under  Marcanto- 
nio  Colonna.  Disputes  followed  as  to  plans  and 
instructions;  and  September  had  come  before  the 
fleet  reached  Candia.  Meanwhile  the  Turks  had 
captured  several  of  the  Cyprus  seaports,  and  were 
besieging  Nicosia  and  Famagosta.  From  Nicosia, 
Niccolo  Dandolo  sent  forth  desperate  summons  for 
help ;  Bragadino,  who  commanded  at  Famagosta, 
was  completely  shut  in ;  and  the  first  news  he  had 
of  the  fall  of  Nicosia  was  when  Dandolo's  head  was 
thrown  inside  his  lines  by  the  Turks,  who  now 
massed  all  their  forces  against  Famagosta.  Braga- 
dino fought  as  long  as  food  and  powder  lasted; 
then,  at  the  agonized  entreaties  of  his  people,  he 
capitulated    (August    18,   1571).      Mustapha,    the 


XII  THE  LOSS   OF  CYPRUS  259 

Turkish  general,  offered  what  appeared  to  be  reason- 
able terms,  in  allowing  the  citizens  and  the  Italian 
troops  to  quit  the  island.  But  presently  his  mag- 
nanimous temper  changed.  He  gave  the  town  up 
to  sack,  and  took  a  diabolical  revenge  on  the  Vene- 
tian commanders.  He  caused  Lorenzo  Tiepolo  to 
be  gibbeted,  and  Baglioni,  Martinengo,  and  Querini 
to  be  hewn  to  pieces  in  his  presence.  Happy  they, 
compared  w^ith  the  gallant  Bragadino,  who  was 
first  mutilated,  then  hoisted,  to  the  yardarm  of  the 
tallest  galley,  so  that  the  Turks  might  deride  him 
and  the  captive  Venetians  might  be  terrorized ;  and 
after  eleven  days  of  unremitted  tortures  the  brave 
Bragadino,  whose  courage  never  flinched,  was  flayed 
alive.  He  died  dauntlessly,  reciting  the  Miserere, 
and  calling  on  Christ  to  support  him.  His  skin 
was  stuffed  with  straw,  and  after  Mustapha's  min- 
ions had  heaped  indignities  on  it  to  satiety,  it  was 
hung  at  the  peak  of  a  Turkish  vessel,  which  carried 
it  in  triumph  to  Constantinople.  The  story  of  ^  the 
noble  defense  of  Faraagosta,  of  its  fall,  of  Mus- 
tapha's ferocity,  and  of  the  loss  of  Cyprus  traveled 
slowly  through  Europe  and  stamped  on  the  popular 
imagination  a  horror  of  the  Turks  which  remains  to 
this  day. 

By  a  strange  irony,  these  evil  tidings  went  almost 
simultaneously  with  the  news  of  the  great  Christian 
victory  at  L^panto.  In  the  autumn  of  1570  the 
leaders  of  the  allied  fleet,  which  was  to  have  relieved 
Cyprus,  fell  into  a  hopeless  wrangle,  and  Doria,  the 
Spanish  admiral,  withdrew.    Not  until  the  follow- 


260  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

ing  summer  was  another  agreement  reached,  and  a 
larger  fleet  of  250  ships  sailed  from  Messina  in 
quest  of  the  Turk.  On  October  7  they  discovered 
him  off  Lepanto,  at  the  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of 
Corinth,  and  after  a  five  hours'  battle,  during  which 
the  result  often  wavered,  the  Christians  won  a 
magnificent  victory.  They  lost  8000  men ;  but  they 
killed  30,000  of  the  Turks,  took  5000  prisoners, 
and  captured  117  galleys.  Ali  Pasha,  the  Turkish 
admiral,  was  slain  during  the  fight;  Michael  Cer- 
vantes, a  soldier  on  one  of  the  Spanish  ships,  lost 
his  left  arm,  but  he  lived  to  write  a  masterpiece 
which  has  outlasted  all  the  glories  of  that  day  and 
the  grandeur  of  his  Spanish  kings.  The  chief 
credit  of  the  victory  belongs  to  Sebastiano  Venier, 
the  Venetian  admiral.  Don  John  of  Austria,  the 
bastard  half-brother  of  the  King  of  Spain,  who 
commanded  the  Spanish  fleet,  behaved  bravely 
and  won  military  renown  which  survived  his  short 
career.  Colonna,  the  Papal  admiral,  had  his  share 
of  the  honors.  Ten  days  later,  Venice  was  thrown 
into  an  ecstasy  of  exultation  over  the  news,  and 
throughout  Europe  Christians  were  soon  congratu- 
lating themselves  that  the  Turk  had  received  his 
deathblow. 

The  battle  of  Lepanto  was  th^  principal  sea  fight 

/between  Actium  and  Trafalgar  1  never  was  an  im- 
mense victory  so  squandered  Venier's  appeals 
could  not  make  his  allies  budge.  They  refused  to 
hurry  to  Constantinople  and  attack  the  Sultan  be- 
fore he  had  time  to  repair  his  losses.     While  they 


/ 


XII  THE  LOSS  OF  CYPRUS  261 

were  wintering  inactive,  Selim  was  working  night 
and  day  to  create  a  new  fleet ;  so  that  by  the  fol- 
lowing summer  (1572)  he  had  210  ships  in  commis- 
sion, and  dared  to  meet  his  late  victors  on  the  sea. 
And  even  now  they  declined  to  give  battle.  Bit- 
terly did  Giacomo  Foscarini,  Venier's  successor  as 
Venetian  admiral,  inveigh  against  an  alliance  which 
deprived  him  of  his  allies'  aid  and  of  his  own  ini- 
tiative. In  the  autumn  the  allied  fleet  disbanded. 
Knowing  that  she  could  not,  single-handed,  carry  on 
the  war,  Venice  signed  a  treaty  with  the  Turks  by 
which  she  agreed  to  pay  300,000  ducats'  indemnity, 
besides  a  tribute  of  1500  sequins  a  year  for  Zante. 
Selim  kept  Cyprus  (March  7, 1573).  Little,  indeed, 
had  the  battle  of  Lepanto  crushed  the  Ottomite ! 
In  1573  he,  and  not  Venice,  was  the  victor ;  in  1683, 
he  was  still  so  powerful  that  his  armies  invested 
Vienna.  The  truth  is  that  the  task  of  withstand- 
ing the  Turks  was  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
strength  of  Venice,  and  should  have  been  shared  by 
the  entire  Christian  world.  But  the  Crusading  age 
was  long  past,  and  Europe  was  now  convulsed  by 
religious  discords. 

The  very  year,  1572,  when  the  allied  fleet  might 
have  clinched  the  victory  of  Lepanto  by  one  yet,  / 
greater  at  Stamboul,  saw  the  French  Catholics  mas- 
sacring the  Huguenots  on  St.  Bartholomew's  Day, 
and  the  Spanish  Catholics  at  the  point  of  exter- 
minating the  Protestants  in  the  Low  Countries. 
Venice,  surviving  from  the  Medieval  World,  found 
the  Younger  World  too    strong  for   her;  but  she 


262  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

met  it  with  a  courage  worthy  of  her  great  tradi- 
tions. The  heroism  of  Bragadino  and  his  com- 
rades at  Famagosta,  the  generalship  and  bravery 
of  Venier  at  Lepanto,  showed  that  the  race  which 
had  produced  Dandolos  and  Pisani  and  Stenos  still 
bred  true;  yet  no  miracle  of  heroism  could  avail 
now. 

^The  loss  of  Cyprus  and  of  one  island  after 
another  in  the  ^gean  and  Ionian  archipelagoes 
laid  bare  the  weakness  of  her  colonial  system/by 
which  she  assigned  her  lands  to  her  patricians  and 

,  generals  to  hold  by  a  sort  of  feudal  tenure,  throw- 
ing on  them  the  duty  of  preserving  order.  They 
got  what  they  could  from  their  fiefs,  and  their  sur- 
plus products  swelled  the  commerce  of  Venice. 
No  other  colonial  system  has  been  developed  with 
less  cost  to  the  home  government.  But  when  an 
aggressive  power  like  the  Turkish  invaded  the 
colonies  one  by  one,  they  had  no  means  of  effec- 
tively warding  it  off.  They  had  depended  on 
Venice  for  troops  to  put  down  a  local  revolution; 
the  wars  with  Solyman  and  with  Selim  proved  that 
she  could  not  protect  them  against  a  powerful  in- 
vader.    The  system  at  last  broke  down ;  but  it  had 

.  worked  successfully  for  a  longer  time  —  nearly  four 
hundred  years  —  and  at  less  cost  than  the  colonial 
system  of  Rome  or  of  Spain  or  of  England. 

/  Thus,  on  the  physical  side,  old  Venice  found  her- 
self overmatched  by  the  strength  of  the  Younger 
World,  y  She  could  no  more  escape  from  the  mili- 
tary superiority  of  the  Turks  than  from  the  effects 


XII  THE  LOSS  OF  CYPRUS  263 

of  the  discovery  of  America.  Having  made  the 
trial  and  been  worsted,  she  adjusted  herself  to  the 
hateful  conditions.  She  determined  to  keep  peace 
with  her  enemy  against  all  provocations,  so  that 
she  might  hold  her  remaining  possessions,  espe- 
cially Candia,  as  long  as  possible.  Yet  it  was 
evident  that,  on  the  sea  as  on  Terra  Firm  a,  she 
maintained  her  control  by  sufferance.  , 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SARPI 


Less  dramatic,  but  hardly  less  vital,  was  the  war 
which  the  venerable  Republic  waged  with  the  Ro- 
man Church  during  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  Roman  Church,  too,  found  herself 
strangely  out  of  place  in  the  Younger  World.  The 
religious  revolution  which  swept  over  Europe  at 
the  Reformation  completed  a  process  which  bears 
a  striking  analogy  to  the  political  reconstruction 
which  had  come  about  somewhat  earliSp  Through- 
out the  Middle  Age,  Roman  Catholicism  was,  in 
theory,  at  least,  the  common  faith  of  Western 
Christendom;  and  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was, 
not  less  strongly  in  theory  but  much  more  feebly 
in  practice,  the  common  political  bond.  But  the 
constituents  of  the  Empire  began  to  break  away 
from  it  and  to  assert  their  independence  sooner 
than  the  constituents  of  the  Roman  Church  broke 
away  from  Rome.  Men  are  warriors  and  politicians 
before  they  are  theologians.  The  concentration  of 
many  small  states  into  a  few  strong  nations,  with 
the  intensifying  of  political  consciousness  which 
that  implied ;  the  substitution  of  international  for 
V  interstate  and  intercity  policies  j   the   growth  of 

264 


CHAP.  XIII  SARPI  265 

national  languages,  arts,  and  literatures,  —  banished 
forever  the  ideal  of  political  unity  as  embodied  in 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

Similarly,  the  cropping  out  of  heresies,  the  Great 
Schism,  and  finally  the  Reformation,  shattered  the 
ideal  of  religious  unity  as  embodied  by  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism. The  new  units  of  combination  were  sects, 
some  large,  some  small,  holding  all  sorts  of  doctrines, 
but  broadly  classifiable  as  Romish  or  Protestant. 
These  new  religious  combinations  did  not  corre- 
spond to  the  new  political  states,  although  in  the 
main  the  Germanic  countries  adopted  Protestantism 
and  the  Latin  countries  held  fast  to  Catholicism. 
If  there  had  been  no  political  interference  spurred 
on  by  sectarian  fanaticism,  it  is  possible  that  there 
would  have  been  a  large  minority  of  Protestants 
in  Spain,  of  Huguenots  in  France,  and  of  Roman 
Catholics  in  England  and  Holland.  But  political 
rulers  used  the  fanaticism  of  their  subjects  as  the 
most  powerful  weapon  for  strengthening  their  own 
dynasties.  The  more  one  studies  the  Reformation, 
the  deeper  becomes  one's  impression  that  political 
and  not  religious  motives  directed  it. 

The  Roman  Curia,  which  scoffed  at  Luther's 
first  attack  on  Tetzel,  the  indulgence  peddler,  as  a 
"mere  monkish  quarrel,"  had  come  by  the  middle  of 
the  century  to  recognize  the  imminent  peril  which 
threatened  its  supremacy.  The  Reformation  had 
spread  everywhere  north  of  the  Alps;  several 
countries  had  seceded  to  it ;  others  were  wavering ; 
and  some  of  those  which  remained  Catholic  might 


266  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF   VENICE  chap. 

set  up  a  national  church  and  thereby  cease  to  be 
Roman.  Never  was  the  sagacity  which  has  char- 
acterized the  politicians  of  the  Curia  so  conspicu- 
ous as  at  that  crisis.  At  the  Council  of  Trent, 
far  from  allowing  any  whisper  of  compromise  or 
conciliation,  they  reaffirmed  their  dogmas  in  their 
most  relentless  form.  They  knew  well  that  those 
who  believed  at  all  would  believe  much  as  readily 
as  little.  Protestants  deny  -the  liomish  claim  of 
infallibility ;  yet  each  Protestant  sect  virtually  as- 
sumes that  it  is  itself  infallible.  The  position  taken 
by  the  Council  of  Trent  was  logically  invulnerable : 
the  right  of  the  individual  soul  to  worship  God 
without  the  interposition  of  ecclesiastical  functions 
must  forever  be  anathema  to  a  church  which  holds 
that  God  has  revealed  and  intrusted  to  it  the  only 
scheme  of  salvation.  Persecution  is  the  legitimate 
child  of  infallibility.  The  heretic  must  be  perse- 
cuted out  of  his  heresy,  that  his  soul  may  be  saved 
and  that  he  may  not,  by  his  example,  corrupt  the 
faithful. 

By  the  reassertion  of  its  dogmas  and  by  persecu- 
tion, the  Roman  Church  strove  to  check  the  ravages 
of  the  Reformation.  The  virus  of  Catholicism  had 
been  most  copiously  secreted  in  the  Spaniards,  and 
as  they  dominated  European  politics  during  most 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  was  inevitable  that  that 
virus,  rendered  still  more  potent  by  passing  through 
the  Spanish  nature,  should  infect  all  Catholic  ac- 
tion. Nor  was  it  by  chance  that  the  founder  of  the 
Jesuits  should  be  a  Spaniard.     The  first  move  of 


XIII  SARPI  267 

the  politicians  of  the  Curia  was  to  recover,  chiefly 
by  the  arms  of  Spain,  the  territory  which  had  gone 
over  to  the  Protestants.  When  they  failed  in  the 
Low  Countries  and  in  England,  and  the  line  of  de- 
marcation between  Catholics  and  Protestants  was 
clearly  drawn,  the  Curia  put  into  practice  that 
policy  which  it  has  not  yet  abandoned  of  subtly 
controlling  the  secular  concerns  of  Catholic  coun- 
tries. If  the  Eeformation  had  deprived  it  of  half 
of  its  religious  subjects,  it  would  recoup  by  dou- 
bling its  hold  on  the  half  that  remained  faithful; 
and  the  plea  that  in  so  usurping  the  Church  was 
simply  performing  its  duty  had  a  logical  justifica- 
tion. If  the  supreme  business  of  man  on  earth  is 
to  fit  himself  for  heaven,  how  could  Mother  Church 
neglect  so  to  influence  secular  affairs  as  to  make 
them  also  stepping-stones  to  heaven  ?  In  this  way 
did  an  institution,  which,  like  the  Venetian  Eepub- 
lic,  had  matured  in  the  Middle  Age,  prepare  to 
defend  itself  against  the  hostile  conditions  of  the 
Modern  World :  resolutely  branding  as  accursed 
every  agent  of  human  progress,  striving  to  cramp 
the  human  race  forever  in  the  thirteenth-century 
mould. 

^enice,  as  we  have  seen,  consistently  maintained 
he*  independence  from  Rome,(  even  in  the  days 
when  Alexander  III  humbled  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
and  Innocent  III  made  vassals  of  the  Catholic 
kings.  In  St.  Mark,  Venice  had  an  apostle-patron 
of  equal  rank  with  St.  Peter ;  and  in  the  Patriarch 
of  Grado  (who  transferred  his  see  to  the  capital  in 


268  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

X  1445)  she  had  a  little  pope  of  her  own.  But  while 
^she  held  herself  free  ecclesiastically,  she  accepted 
without  demur  the  Romish  religion.  Few  people 
were  more  devout  than  hers ;  few  were  less  pietistic. 
She  nurtured  neither  doubters  nor  fanatics.  Im- 
memorial intercourse  with  Byzantines  and  Mo- 
hammedans had  taught  her  tolerance.  Prosperity 
made  her  cheerful  in  her  worship.  She  never 
mixed  spiritual  and  temporal  business.  In  1309  she 
underwent  a  Papal  interdict  because  of  Ferrara; 
and  although  she  consented  two  years  later  to  ask 
for  pardon,  this  in  no  wise  changed  her  general  at- 
titude of  ecclesiastical  independence.  She  insisted 
that  the  Patriarch  and  bishops  must  be  Venetian 
i  subjects,  elected  by  the  clergy  and  the  Senate,  and 
confirmed  by  the  Pope.  The  lesser  clergy  were 
chosen  by  the  clergy  and  the  people  —  an  instance 
of  congregational  democracy.  In  judicial  matters 
the  Republic  at  first  allowed  the  ecclesiastical 
courts  to  try  criminal  cases  in  which  laymen  were 
involved;  then  by  the  Concordat  of  1344  it  was 
agreed  that  if  a  cleric  were  the  offender  against 
a  layman,  he  should  be  tried  by  the  bishop ;  if  a 
cleric  were  the  plaintiff  against  a  layman,  the  case 
'  went  to  the  civil  court.  Gradually,  however,  the 
state  came  more  and  more  to  exercise  jurisdiction 
over  all  criminal  and  civil  causes.  Willingly  or 
not,  the  Popes  acquiesced,  because  they  were  too 
wary  to  risk,  except  for  a  great  stake,  a  rupture 
with  the  haughty  Republic,  which,  in  any  collision, 
threatened  to  appeal  from  the  Pope  to  a  council. 


XIII  SARPI  269 

Many  questions  were  regulated'  by  custom  and  not 
by  a  definite  agreement  between  the  Curia  and  the 
Signory  —  an  uncertainty  which  left  leeway  for 
whichever  of  the  two  happened  to  be  the  more 
powerful  to  encroach. 

'^ot  until  the  League  of  Cambrai  did  Venice  sub- 
mit to  the  supremacy  of  Kome./when  her  armies 
had  been  routed,  her  provinces  torn  from  her,  and 
her  very  existence  seemed  to  be  in  jeopardy,  she 
bought  peace  from  Julius  II  by  accepting  the  fol- 
lowing grievous  terms:  she  renounced  her  appeal 
to  a  future  council  and  declared  the  Pope's  excom-  f  ^vyi 
munication  to  be  just ;  she  promised  to  levy  no  more 
tithes  or  other  taxes  from  the  clergy ;  to  refrain 
from  interfering  in  ecclesiastical  nominations;  to 
allow  the  freedom  of  the  Gulf  to  Papal  subjects ; 
to  promote  no  undertaking  against  the  Pope;  not 
to  give  asylum  to  Papal  rebels  or  refugees ;  not  to 
meddle  in  the  affairs  of  Ferrara;  and  to  compen- 
sate monasteries  and  ecclesiastical  foundations,  for 
their  losses.  The  very  day  (February  15,  1509- 
10)  w^hen  the  Venetian  Signory  submitted  to 
these  humiliating  conditions,  the  Council  of  Ten 
recorded  a  protest  that  the  compact,  having  been 
wrung  from  them  by  force,  was  null  and  void  —  a 
stupendous  example  of  the  guile  which  was  then 
everywhere  practiced,  and  nowhere  more  shame- 
lessly than  in  the  Papal  Curia. 

The  Reformation,  by  giving  Rome  new  excuses 
for  extending  her  influence,  complicated  the  situa- 
tion.   Under  the  pretext  of  guarding  Catholics  from 


270  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

the  contagion  of  heretics,  Rome  converted  the  In- 
quisition into  an  instrument  for  strengthening  the 
Pope's  hold ;  and  she  let  loose  the  Jesuits,  to  under- 
mine in  more  reptilian  ways  the  patriotism  of  the 
regular  clergy  and  the  independence  of  the  lay  citi- 
zens. The  Signory  could  not  be  fooled  in  matters 
purely  political,  but  it  could  hardly  deny  that  the 
Church  was  the  proper  judge  of  heresy,  even  though 
it  suspected  that,  under  cover  of  religion,  the  Curia 
was  seeking  its  own  political  advantage.  Venice 
resisted  as  best  she  could. 

To  prevent  "all  the  real  property  of  this  city 
from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  ecclesiastics," 
she  decreed  that  nobody  should  bequeath  to  them 
the  income  of  such  property  for  more  than  two 
years  (December  31,  1536).  Later,  she  forbade  the 
sale  of  lands  and  buildings  to  ecclesiastics  without 
the  Senate's  permission.  She  taxed  churchmen. 
She  frowned  on  the  erection  of  new  churches.  Hav- 
ing no  immediate  interest  in  the  religious  wars  be- 
yond the  Alps,  and  being  by  nature  tolerant,  she 
gave  a  lodging  to  persons  whom  the  Curia  did  not 
always  approve  of.  On  the  whole,  however,  her 
relations  with  Rome  continued  friendly  until  after 
the  battle  of  Lepanto.  In  1577  Gregory  XIII  sent 
the  Golden  Rose,  the  special  mark  of  pontifical 
favor,  to  Sebastiano  Venier  on  his  election  as  doge, 
/^ith  Gregory's  successors  there  came  coolness, 
recrimination,  conflict.  By  1600  the  Catholic  Re- 
action had  shown  its  ability  to  check  the  spread 
of  Protestantism.  ^  It  no  longer  feared  a  surprise. 


XIII  SARPI  271 

The  Papal  politicians  had  grown  expert  in  using 
the  weapons  originally  forged  against  Protestant 
heretics,  to  secure  wealth  and  power  for  the  Pope 
in  Catholic  countries.  \Uhe  baleful  alliance  between 
Spain  and  the  Papacy  was  in  full  vigou  Out  of 
Spain  had  come  the  Inquisition/ the  armies  of 
Charles  V  and  Philip  II,  Loyola  and  his  Company 
of  Jesus  —  the  stanchest  supports  of  Eome  in  her 
struggle  with  Protestantism :  no  wonder  that  the 
Spanish  virus  poisoned  her  system.  And  although 
Spain,  after  the  destruction  of  her  Armada  in  1588, 
was  declining  from  leadership  in  Europe,  she  pre- 
ponderated in  the  Italian  Peninsula,  where  she 
owned  the  Duchy  of  Milan  and  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples,  and  dictated  the  policy  of  the  Holy  See. 
^j  destroying  the  Venetian  Republic,  Spain  would 
possess  its  provinces  on  Terra  Firma;  Ky  humbling 
it,  the  Eoman  Curia  would  at  last  gain  the  upper 
hand  over  a  people  who  had  haughtily  resisted 
Papal  intrusion  and  had  been  unseemingly  hospi- 
table to  religious  suspects. 

The  Curia  moved  first  by  reviving  an  ancient 
quarrel  over  the  claim  of  the  bishops  of  Ceneda  to 
exercise  temporal  power  in  that  diocese  without,  or 
against,  the  Signory's  sanction.  The  taxation  of 
churchmen,  the  ordinance  permitting  the  visitation 
of  monasteries,  the  laws  against  mortmain,  lenience 
toward  heretics,  the  interference  of  the  state  in 
ecclesiastical  appointments,  the  judicial  system  in 
which  the  secular  courts  had  jurisdiction  over 
clerics,  supplied  causes  enough  for  fresh  exaspera- 


272  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

tion  to  a  Curia  in  search  of  a  quarrel.  The  Repub- 
lic was  inclined  to  be  courteous,  even  compliant, 
where  her  temporal  authority  was  not  attacked. 
When  Clement  VIII  complained  against  the  taxing 
of  the  Brescian  clergy  for  the  fortifications,  the 
Doge  replied  that  it  was  reasonable  that  the  clergy 
should  contribute  its  share  for  tlie  protection  which 
it  received.  When,  later,  the  Pope  demanded  that 
[)  the  English  Ambassador,  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  should 
be  expelled  as  a  heretic,  the  Doge  firmly  refused. 

<^he  election  of  Camillo  Borghese  as  Pope  Paul  V, 
in  1605,  hurried  on  a  crisi^  He  had  been  elected 
by  the  consent,  perhaps  by  the  doubloons,  of  Spain, 
and  he  soon  fell  in  heartily  with  the  Spanish  policy. 
His  prejudice  against  Venice  is  illustrated  by  a 
conversation  he  had,  as  Cardinal,  with  Leonardo 
Donato,  the  Venetian  envoy.  "If  I  were  Pope," 
said  Borghese,  "I  would  excommunicate  the  Si- 
gnory  at  the  first  opportunity."  "  And  if  I  were 
Doge,"  replied  Donato,  "I  would  laugh  at  your 
excommunication."  Paul  had  not  been  Pope  long 
before  he  carried  out  his  threat.  Two  ecclesias- 
tics. Abbot  Brandolin  and  Canon  Saraceni,  were 
arrested  for  abominable  crimes,  and  being  Venetian 
citizens  they  would  naturally  be  tried  and  pun- 
ished by  the  secular  courts.  Their  guilt  was  un- 
questioned, and  the  Signory  contended  that  it  had 
full  jurisdiction.  But  Paul  thought  that  he  saw 
here  his  chance  to  win  a  final  victory  for  the  Church 
over  the  State.  He  sent  two  briefs  to  the  Signory, 
demanding  in  one  the  instant  surrender  of  the  ac- 


xiii  SAEPI  273 

ciised  to  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and  in  the 
other  the  rescinding  of  the  laws  against  the  erec- 
tion of  new  churches  and  against  bequests  to 
ecclesiastics. 

To  Donato,  who  had  just  been  elected  Doge,  the 
Pax^al  Nuncio  handed  the  latter  brief ;  several  weeks 
afterward,  he  delivered  the  other.  The  Signory, 
understanding  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  appointed 
Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  consulting  theologian  to  the  Repub- 
lic, at  an  annual  salary  of  two  hundred  ducats.  / 
Three  professors  of  civil  and  canon  laws  —  G-raziani, 
Ottelio,  and  Pellegrini  —  were  summoned  from  the 
University  of  Padua  to  assist  him. 

Sarpi  is  among  the  world's  great  men,  and  so 
long  as  mankind  reveres  its  chief  benefactors, — 
those  who  widen  its  liberty  and  exalt  its  righteous- 
ness, —  he  will  have  the  gratitude  of  posterity. 
Born  at  Venice,  on  August  14,  1552,  he  was  a  deli- 
cate, study-loving  boy.  When  only  fourteen,  he 
entered  the  Servite  Order ;  before  he  was  of  age,  he 
was  professor  of  theology  and  reader  in  canon  Isiw 
and  casuistry  at  Mantua.  In •'1574  he  went  to  Mi- 
lan and  became  a  favorite  with  Cardinal  Carlo  Bor- 
romeo,  in  spite  of  whose  patronage  he  was  charged 
with  heresy  because  he  could  not  find  the  "  complete 
Trinity"  in  the  first  verse  of  Genesis!  He  re- 
turned to  Venice,  to  teach  philosophy  in  the  Ser- 
vite Monaster}'-  at  St.  Fosca ;  rose  to  be  Provincial 
of  the  Order,  and  made  on  its  business  several  jour- 
neys to  Rome.  There  his  character  was  highly 
esteemed,  even  by  his  opponents;  so  that,  when  a 


274  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

slanderer  printed  a  libelous  biography  of  him,  Car- 
dinal Bellarmine  said  to  the  Pope :  "  Holy  Father, 
this  book  is  a  tissue  of  lies.  I  know  Fra  Paolo,  and 
I  know  him  as  a  man  of  blameless  habits.  If  we 
were  to  allow  such  calumnies  to  be  published,  the 
dishonor  would  be  wholly  ours."  Later,  Bellar- 
mine warned  Sarpi  of  plots  against  his  life.  In 
1597  he  settled  in  the  Servite  Monastery  at  Venice, 
and  seldom  thereafter  quitted  the  city. 

If  we  except  his  younger  contemporary,  Francis 
(j  Bacon,  he  was  the  most  learned  man  of  his  time. 
He  had  mastered  Greek,  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  mathe- 
matics, medicine,  anatomy,  and  botany,  besides 
philosophy  and  theology.  He  practiced,  not  less 
than  Bacon,  the  inductive  method.  He  had  that 
passion  for  truth  —  "  to  know  things  exactly  as 
they  happened  "  —  which  is  the  soul  of  modern 
science.  "Truth,"  he  said,  "makes  the  supersti- 
tious more  obstinate."  "  I  never  dare  to  deny  any- 
thing on  the  score  of  impossibility,"  he  remarked, 
"  knowing  very  well  the  infinite  variety  of  the 
works  of  Nature  and  of  God."  He  made  many 
original  suggestions  and  inventions,  but  was  care- 
less of  seeking  credit  for  them.  "  Let  us  imitate 
'  God  and  Nature,"  he  used  to  say ;  "  they  give,  they 
do  not  lend."  Shut  up  in  his  convent,  he  might  be 
remembered  in  our  age  by  only  a  few  as  the  histo- 
rian of  the  Council  of  Trent,  had  not  the  rupture 
between  Venice  and  the  Roman  Curia  called  him  to 
fill  the  most  conspicuous  post  in  Europe. 
•^  For  the  first  time  since  the  Reformation  that 


xiii  SARPI  275 

Curia,  instigated  doubtless  by  Spanish  advisers, 
resolved  to  usurp  temporal  rights  in  a  Catholic 
state,  -f^arpi  did  not  underrate  the  peril  nor  the 
principles  at  stake.  He  belonged  to  that  noble 
band  of  Catholics  over  whom  Dante,  like  an  eagle, 
soars,  who  have  protested  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration against  the  worldly  policy  which  perverted 
the  Eoman  Church  from  a  spiritual  to  a  corrupt 
political  institution.  He  saw  in  the  Inquisition,  in 
the  Jesuits,  in  the  Index,  new  organs  put  forth  by 
the  Papacy  to  extend  its  mundane  ambitions.  As 
a  lover  of  virtue,  he  grieved  at  the  injury  this 
would  work  to  the  Church  herself.  He  foresaw  the 
depths  of  ignorance,  superstition,  intolerance,  and 
cruelty  into  which  the  Catholic  nations  must  sink 
if  the  Eoman  Curia  prevailed.  Resolutely  he  ac- 
cepted the  summons  of  Venice  to  advise  her  in  this 
crisis.  For  once,  certainly,  Fortune  found  the  indis- 
pensable man  to  do  a  world-broad  task.  Sarpi's  en- 
dowments v/ere  threefold.  He  surpassed  all  other 
Catholic  theologians  of  his  time — even  Bellarmine 
—  in  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  law.  He  excelled 
in  ability  to  state  his  points  briefly,  clearly,  unan- 
swerably. He  had  a  large,  poised  nature,  cheerful, 
modest,  courageous,  invincible,  which  fitted  him  to 
support  the  long  strain  of  such  a  conflict  and  to 
hearten  his  countrymen. 

By  his  advice  the  Signory  replied  to  the  Pope's 
brief  concerning  the  accused  clerics  that  Popes 
Gregory  XII,  Paul  II,  Innocent  VIII,  Sixtus  IV, 
Alexander  VI,  Clement  VII,  and  Paul  III  had  by 


276  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

special  bulls  confirmed  the  right  of  the  state  to  try- 
such  causes.  He  urged  that  the  state  had  likewise 
the  right  to  make  laws  to  restrict  the  holding  of 
property  by  ecclesiastics — a  right  derived  not 
merely  from  custom  but  from  divine  decree ;  for 
God  intended  the  ruler  or  state  to  be  as  independent 
in  temporal  affairs  as  the  pontiff  was  in  spiritual 
affairs.  Paul  V  was  angry  at  this  reply,  and  said 
to  the  Venetian  cardinals  who  urged  moderation  on 
him,  "  Your  speeches  stink  of  heresy."  But  even 
so,  he  might  not  have  taken  the  final  leap  if  he  had 
not  been  egged  on  by  Spanish  instigation  and  by 
the  majority  of  the  cardinals,  who,  in  consistory, 
vied  with  one  another  in  denouncing  the  Venetians. 
Cardinal  Baronio  outdid  them  all.  The  ministry 
of  Peter,  he  said,  has  two  parts,  —  one  is  to  feed 
the  lambs,  the  other  is  to  kill  and  eat  them ;  and 
their  slaughter  is  not  cruel,  but  an  act  of  piety, 
because,  while  by  it  they  lose  their  bodies,  they 
save  their  souls.  In  justice  to  Paul  V  we  must 
remember  that  this  was  the  sort  of  counsel  he 
received  from  the  little  ring  which  controlled  the 
Papal  policy.  It  was  counsel  which  simply  in- 
flamed the  already  megalomaniac  ideas  he  held  of 

'  pontifical  powers.  The  triumphs  of  Hildebrand 
and  of  Innocent  III  would  not  let  him  sleep.  He 
issued  a  monitory,  warning  Venice  that  unless  she 
submitted  within  twenty-four  days  he  would  place 
her  under  the  ban. 

/  Venice  was  not  to  be  terrorized.  Suspecting  that 
the  Spanish  might  seize  this  opportunity  to  attack 


XIII  SARPI  277 

her,  she  increased  her  forces  on  the  west  and  soutjjx' 
To  render  ineffectual  the  Interdict,  which  was  issued 
punctually,  she  forbade  its  publication  in  her  do- 
minions, and  threatened  to  punish  any  of  the  clergy 
who  allowed  it  to  interrupt  the  usual  religious 
offices.  One  recalcitrant  priest  found  a  gibbet  set 
up  before  his  door,  and  took  the  hint.  Another 
remarked  that  he  should  act  according  as  the  Holy 
Ghost  inspired  him;  but  when  he  was  told  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  already  inspired  the  Ten  to  hang 
all  who  disobeyed,  he,  too,  had  a  change  of  heart. 
The  Jesuits,  Theatines,  Reformed  Franciscans,  and 
Capuchins  prudently  slipped  away ;  but  even  with- 
out the  government's  strict  measures  the  great 
body  of  the  Venetian  clergy  would  have  been 
sturdily  patriotic,  and,  if  there  had  been  need, 
many  other  bodies  would  have  imitated  the  monks 
of  Chiaravalle,  who  offered  the  Senate  one  hundred 
thousand  ducats  toward  the  war  which  they 
thmght  must  follow. 

/The  Interdict  went  into  operation  about  May  10, 
1606,  but  a  stranger  in  the  Venetian  Republic  would 
hardly  have  been  aware  of  ij/  The  churches  were 
open  as  usual,  and  baptisms,  marriages,  and  funerals 
were  solemnized  with  the  usual  rites.  The  holy 
festivals  were  celebrated  with  increased  pomp. 
Venice  intended  that  her  people  and  the  world 
should  see  that  she  did  not  confound  religious 
affairs  with  secular,  and  that  in  her  worship  she 
was  loyally  Catholic.  Pope  Paul  was  greatly  per- 
turbed.   His  Nuncio  brought  back  to  him  the  remon- 


278  A  SHORT  fflSTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

strance  of  the  Doge,  who  had  said  flatly :  "  We 
hold  your  excommunication  as  naught.  See  how- 
much  your  resolution  amounts  to,  and  how  much 
would  be  left  you  if  others  were  to  follow  our  ex- 
ample." The  Pope  had  lost  much  sleep  over  the 
quarrel.  Despite  his  brave  show  of  masterfulness, 
he  listened  for  the  advice  of  one  cardinal  and  of  an- 
other. The  easy  rejoinder  that  Venice  was  atheis- 
tical was,  of  course,  made ;  but  it  persuaded  no  one. 
The  penmen  of  the  Curia  set  about  undermining 
the  Venetian  arguments.  Sarpi  and  his  colleagues 
met  them  point  by  point.  Volunteer  pamphleteers 
rushed  into  print  on  both  sides.  The  Curialists, 
although  they  had  Bellarmine  for  counsel,  fell  back 
on  personal  abuse,  and  as  they  recognized  in  Sarpi 
their  chief  antagonist,  they  tried  to  discredit  both 
his  morals  and  his  orthodoxy.  But  Brother  Paul 
cared  nothing  for  the  attacks  on  himself.  He  knew 
that  he  was  fighting  the  world's  cause,  and  he 
fought  it  dispassionately,  but  with  immense  vigor. 
He  reprinted  two  forgotten  treatises  in  which  the 
famous  doctor,  Gerson,  declared  that  the  pretension 
that  the  Pope  was  a  god,  or  had  all  power  in  heaven 
and  earth,  was  absurd,  and  that  resistance  to  Papal 
injustice  was  justified.  There  are  occasions,  said  the 
magisterial  Parisian,  when  to  submit  to  Papal  ex- 
communication "  would  be  the  patience  of  an  ass  and 
the  timidity  of  a  hare  or  a  fool."  He  further  trav- 
ersed the  dictum  of  St.  Gregory,  that  even  an  un- 
just sentence  imposed  by  the  Pope  is  to  be  dreaded. 
Gerson  was  a  theologian  whom  the  Curia  could  not 


XIII  SARPI  279 

conveniently  dismiss  as  a  heretic.  Another  pam- 
phlet, by  Giovanni  Marsilio,  pointed  out  that  since 
Jesus  Christ  never  exercised  temporal  power  on 
earth,  he  could  never  have  transmitted  it  to  Peter 
and  his  successors ;  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
metaphorical  "  keys  "  is  purely  spiritual ;  that  the 
best  authorities  agree  that  ecclesiastics  owe  their 
secular  privileges  to  the  benevolence  of  rulers,  and 
not  to  divine  right;  and  that  consequently  the 
Interdict  against  Venice  was  illegal.  Marsilio's 
pamphlet  was  condemned  by  the  Holy  Office  which, 
not  to  waste  time,  added  that  all  other  works  con- 
taining heretical,  erroneous,  and  scandalous  propo- 
sitions, though  still  unwritten  or  unpublished,  were 
damned  in  advance.  At  this  Fra  Paolo,  who  had  a 
keen  sense  of  humor,  laughed,  saying,  "Then  if 
we  had  taken  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Romans, 
and  given  it  the  title  Rights  of  the  Venetian  Re- 
public, by  a  bizarre  decree  of  the  Inquisition,  St. 
Paul  would  become  the  author  of  heretical,  errone- 
ous, and  scandalous  opinions." 

Fra  Paolo  gave  the  full  measure  of  his  powers 
in  his  Treatise  on  the  Interdict,  which  circulated 
rapidly  through  Italy,  and,  crossing  the  Alps, 
was  translated  into  Prench  and  German.  The 
Inquisition  at  once  condemned  it  and  his  other 
works  to  be  burnt,  and  summoned  him  to  Eome, 
under  pain  of  excommunication,  to  stand  trial 
for  heresy.  He  did  not  go,  and  the  Venetian 
Senate,  to  display  its  approval  of  him,  publicly 
thanked   him    for   his    services,  and,   in   spite   of 


280  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

his  reluctance,  increased  his  stipend  to  four  hun- 
dred ducats. 

Meanwhile  summer  had  passed  and  the  autumn 
was  far  advanced  without  any  sign  of  reconcilia- 
tion. Venice  had  convinced  the  world  that  a  Catho- 
lic people  could  live  for  six  months  under  a  Papal 
interdict  without  suffering  any  interruption  in  wor- 
ship, in  commerce,  in  business,  in  foreign  relations 
(except  with  the  Curia),  or  in  domestic  welfare.  She 
had  forever  destroyed  the  prestige  of  the  Romish 
taboo  which,  stripped  of  its  theological  wraps,  is  in 
essence  the  same  as  the  taboo  the  primitive  South 
Sea  cannibal  draws  round  persons  and  places.  She 
had  proved  the  righteousness  of  her  position  by 
argument,  by  dignified  conduct,  and  by  religious 
decorum.  Instead  of  vituperating,  she  gave  reasons, 
and  allowed  the  Roman  pamphlets  to  be  distributed 
freely  in  her  empire,  although  her  own  pamphlets 
were  burnt  by  the  hangman,  and  their  readers  im- 
prisoned, in  the  Papal  states.  Venice  had  estab- 
lished once  for  all  the  divorce  between  Church  and 
State,  and,  more  important  still,  she  had  shown  how, 
when  the  Church  reached  out  after  secular  powers, 
she  could  be  ignominiously  beaten. 
-^^t  Rome,  the  failure  of  the  Interdict,  although 
unacknowledged,  was  bitterly  felt.>'  The  Curia  had 
tried  every  weapon  in  its  armory  —  threat,  denun- 
ciation, abuse,  calumny,  curse  —  in  vain.  It  had 
presumed  to  wield  God  Almighty's  terrors,  but 
they  did  not  materialize.  It  had  called  spirits 
from  the  vasty  deep,  but  they  would  not  come.     If 


XIII  SARPI  281 

a  pontiff  summons  all  the  world  to  see  him  coax 
down  thunderbolts  out  of  a  clear  sky,  and  no 
thunderbolts  fall,  how  does  he  differ  from  a  dis- 
credited rainmaker,  or  from  the  trickster  who  pre- 
tends to  cause  a  shower  of  meteors  by  whistling  ? 
The  only  safe  rule  for  theocrats  who  claim  to  be 
partners  with  the  Supernal  Powers  is  never  to 
allow  themselves  to  be  put  to  the  test  of  bring- 
ing those  Powers  into  action.  During  the  months 
of  increasing  mortification,  this  was  dawning  on 
Paul  V,  who  had  entered  on  the  struggle  with  an 
exaggerated  idea  of  Papal  omnipotence  and  a  natu- 
ral desire  to  extend  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Curia. 
He  had  commanded  the  Venetians  to  call  Wrong, 
Right,  and  they  had  refused:  he  then  pronounced 
a  blight  on  them  in  this  life  and  damnation  in 
eternity ;  but  this  had  so  little  affected  them  here, 
that  they  might  well  assume  that  it  would  be 
equally  impotent  hereafter.  If  they  could  prosper 
thus  without  Eome  for  half  a  year,  why  might  they 
not  cut  adrift  from  Eome  forever?  The  charge 
that  they  were  heretics,  Calvinists,  Lutherans,  de- 
ceived nobody.  What  if  the  other  Catholic  nations, 
taking  example  from  Venice,  should  decide  that  they 
too^would  rid  themselves  of  Papal  domineering? 
"^'he  contest  had  been  everywhere  eagerly  watched. 
Polemics  in  each  country  sprang  up  to  engage  in 
the  controversy.  But  monarchs  without  exception 
hoped  that  Venice  would  win,  because  they  recog- 
nized that  she  was  fighting  their  cause  against  the 
Curia. /Were  she  to  lose,  the  insatiate  Papal  ambi- 


282  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

tion  would  usurp  secular  authority  in  Spain,  in 
France,  in  the  Empire,  in  Hungary.  /^N'evertheless, 
the  Catholic  powers  did  not  wish  to  see  the  dead- 
lock prolonged,  as  out  of  it  there  might  issue  they 
knew  not  Avhat  political  disaster.  They  instructed 
their  ambassadors  at  Rome  and  Venice  to  urge  a 
reconciliation.  Henry  IV,  of  France,  who  was 
most  solicitous,  perhaps  because  he  had  most  to 
fear  from  a  rekindling  of  religious  discord  among 
his  subjects,  undertook  to  negotiate.  But  the 
Republic  declined  to  accept  any  terms  which  sug- 
gested that  she  had  been  wrong. /The  parleying 
dragged  on  from  November  to  April,  each  party 
skirmishing  to  save  its  dignity.  The  Pope  in- 
sisted that  the  Signory  should  withdraw  its  pro- 
test before  he  removed  the  ban ;  but  in  the  end  he 
had  to  give  in.  The  Republic  consented  to  hand 
over  the  two  prisoners,  who  had  been  the  immedi- 
ate cause  of  the  controversy,  to  the  French  am- 
bassador "  as  a  mark  of  gratitude  to  Henry  IV  for 
his  good  offices,"  but  it  stated  that  by  this  transfer 
it  intended  in  no  wise  to  prejudice  the  authority 
which  it  claimed  to  try  ecclesiastics.  The  envoy 
consigned  the  ruffians  to  the  Pope's  agents.  In 
the  matter  of  bequests  and  buildings,  the  Republic 
conceded  nothing,  but  she  consented  to  the  return 
of  the  exiled  religious  orders  except  the  Jesuits. 
June,  1607,  had  come  round  before  the  restoration 
of  peace. 

Thus  ended  the  Interdict  of  Paul  V.    The  victory 
which  Venice  won  surpassed  in  lasting  effects  most 


XIII  SARPI  283 

of  the  victories  which  have  been  won  for  human 
progress  on  the  battlefield.  In  some  respects  it 
was  more  significant  than  the  Eeformation ;  for  it 
was  natural  that  when  large  bodies  of  Christians 
broke  away  from  Roman  Catholicism,  they  should 
keep  out  Papal  interference  from  their  temporal 
affairs.  But  Venice  was  the  first  to  demonstrate 
that  a  Catholic  state  could  maintain  its  indepen- 
dence in  secular  matters,  in  the  face  of  the  most 
awful  terrors  which  the  Church  could  conjure 
against  it.y'The  interdicts  of  1309  and  1509  had 
brought  the  Republic  to  terms  because  they  were 
backed  up  by  superior  physical  force ;  the  interdict 
of  1606  failed  because  Paul  V  had  no  such  backing. 
In  other  words,  the  interdict,  which  pretended  to 
be  a  spiritual  weapon,  was  proved  worthless  unless 
it  were  accompanied  by  the  common  material 
weapon,  as  ancient  as  Cain's — brute  force.  More- 
over, by  1606  there  had  grown  up  a  public  opinion 
so  far  purged  of  superstition,  that  it  demanded 
even  from  the  Pope  tangible  proof  of  the  justice  of 
his  claims. 

Venice  had  fought  the  battle  against  clerical  en- 
croachment, a  battle  which  Catholic  monarchs  have 
had  to  fight  over  and  over  again  since  1607.  The 
blight  which  overtook  Spain,  the  frightful  moral 
and  political  leprosy  which  infected  Naples  under 
the  Bourbons,  the  senile  gangrene  of  which  the 
Papal  states  were  slowly  rotting  down  to  1870, 
show  what  happens  to  countries  where  Clericals 
insinuate  their  way  into  the  schools,  the  law  courts, 


284  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

and  the  council  chambers.  Sarpi  did  his  work  so 
thoroughly  that  his  arguments  will  always  be  the 
best  weapons  for  any  state  whose  rights  are  invaded 
by  ecclesiastical  usurpers  of  whatever  creed. 

Beaten  in  the  open,  the  Jesuits  plotted  secretly 
to  be  avenged  on  the  Servite  friar.  No  proof  can 
be  given,  of  course,  that  their  conspiracy  was  re- 
vealed to  the  Pope,  although  if  it  had  been,  there 
is  little  reason  to  suppose  that  he  would  have 
frowned  upon  it.  The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
and  the  murder  of  William  of  Orange  were  too 
frankly  rejoiced  over  in  the  Vatican  to  permit  the 
belief  that  the  assassination  of  Sarpi  would  not 
have  been  winked  at.  As  he  was  returning  to  his 
convent  on  October  25, 1607,  three  villains  laid  upon 
him  and  his  attendants,  left  him  for  dead,  and 
escaped.  He  was  taken  to  his  cell,  apparently 
dying ;  but  his  characteristic  humor  did  not  desert 
him.  Asking  to  see  the  dagger  with  which  he  had 
been  stabbed,  he  fingered  its  point  and  said,  "I 
recognize  the  Roman  style."  Thanks  to  his  com- 
posure and  to  devoted  nursing,  he  recovered.  The 
Senate  passed  a  law  making  any  attempt  on  his 
person  an  act  of  treason,  and  for  his  safety  it 
besought  him  to  remove  to  a  palace  at  St.  Mark's, 
and  to  accept  a  bodyguard ;  but  he  would  not  quit 
S.  Eosca,  and  consented  only  to  the  protection  of  a 
covered  way  from  the  cloister  to  his  gondola.  His 
assassins  took  refuge  in  the  Papal  states,  where 
they  were  welcomed  with  rewards.  The  Curia  set 
subtler  snares  for  him  and  for  his  associates  in  tli« 


xin  SARPI  285 

campaign  of  the  Interdict,  by  holding  out  promises 
of  forgiveness  and  promotion  if  they  would  go  to 
Rome.  Sarpi  himself  was  too  wary  to  be  caught ; 
but  a  Franciscan,  Manfredi,  went  with  a  safe- 
conduct.  After  he  had  been  allowed  to  live  in 
Eome  undisturbed  for  nearly  two  years,  he  was 
suddenly  seized  by  the  Holy  Office,  condemned, 
hanged,  and  burnt.  When  Sarpi  heard  of  it,  he 
said  laconically,  "I  know  not  what  judgment  to 
form  :  a  safe-conduct — and  a  pyre." 

All  efforts  to  lure  him  out  of  Venice  failed,  as  did 
other  plots  against  his  life.  He  lived  cloistered 
but  unceasingly  busy ;  in  constant  consultation  on 
matters  of  state ;  studious  throughout  the  whole 
domain  of  learning;  experimenting  in  science, 
writing  his  history,  and  fulfilling  without  repose 
his  religious  duties.  Amid  the  veneration  of  all 
classes  of  his  countrymen  he  grew  old.  Seldom 
has  a  world-hero  enjoyed  like  him  so  unclouded  a 
popularity.  His  deserts  were  great,  but  without 
his  great  nature,  they  might  not  have  saved  him 
from  envy.  In  their  appreciation  of  Sarpi,  as  in 
their  devotion  to  Daniel  Manin  two  centuries  later, 
the  Venetians  revealed  the  inherent  nobleness  of 
their  race. 

All  through  1622  Sarpi's  health  broke  visibly, 
and  with  the  coming  of  winter,  a  mortal  illness 
gained  on  him  apace.  He  lost  appetite,  strength, 
sleep ;  and  of  his  many  intellectual  interests,  he 
held  only  to  mathematics.  Yet  he  would  not  rest 
from  his  official  work.     "  My  office  is  to  serve  and 


286  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

not  to  live,"  he  said ;  "  and  every  one  dies  at  his 
work."  "  Popes  die ;  shall  not  I,  a  friar,  die  too  ?  " 
Often  he  would  say  to  his  assistants,  "  Let  us  make 
haste,  for  we  are  at  the  end  of  the  day's  stint." 
Nothing  troubled  his  elemental  serenity;  for  him 
time  and  eternity  were  one. 

On  January  13,  1623,  although  he  seemed  to  be 
dying,  he  persisted  in  rising  and  in  dressing  him- 
self. When  the  convent  cook  urged  him  to  take  a 
meat  broth,  in  spite  of  its  being  a  fast  day,  he  said 
playfully,  "  Fra  Cosimo,  is  this  the  way  you  treat 
your  friends,  causing  them  to  spoil  their  Fridays  ?  " 
The  next  day  he  said  to  the  brothers,  who  could  not 
hold  back  their  grief,  "I  have  consoled  you  as 
much  as  I  could ;  now  it  is  your  turn  to  keep  me 
cheerful."  The  Senate  sent  for  Fra  Fulgenzio, 
Sarpi's  chosen  disciple,  and  asked  for  news.  "  He 
is  at  the  last  gasp,"  replied  Fra  Fulgenzio.  "  And 
his  mind  ?  "  "  As  clear  as  if  he  were  well."  The 
Senate  accordingly  submitted  in  writing  three  im- 
portant questions,  on  which  they  wished  to  have 
their  dying  adviser's  opinions,  and  he  dictated  the 
replies.  When  the  physician  told  him  that  the  end 
was  near,  he  smiled  and  said,  "Blessed  be  God; 
what  pleases  Him  pleases  me  :  with  His  aid,  we  will 
perform  well  even  this  last  act."  From  time  to 
time  he  became  unconscious.  "Come  let  us  go 
whither  God  calls  us;"  he  was  heard  murmuring 
amid  his  prayers.  Or  his  thought  would  revert  to 
his  chief  earthly  concern :  "  Let  us  go  to  St.  Mark's, 
for  it  is  late.  ...     I  have  much  to  do !  "     Hearing 


XIII  SARPI  287 

the  bell  strike  eight,  he  called  out,  "It  is  eight 
o'clock.  Hurry  if  you  wish  to  give  me  what  the 
doctor  ordered."  And  when  the  muscatel  was 
brought,  he  sipped  it  and  put  it  away  in  disgust. 
A  little  later,  he  called  for  Fra  Fulgenzio,  em- 
braced and  kissed  him,  and  bade  him  go :  "  Away ! 
Stay  here  no  longer  to  see  me  in  this  state  —  it  is 
not  right !  Go  you  to  sleep,  and  I  will  go  to  God 
from  whom  we  are  come."  Fra  Fulgenzio  obeyed  ; 
but  in  a  little  while  he  returned  with  the  other  friars, 
who  knelt  by  the  bedside  and  repeated  the  prayers 
for  the  dying.  Fra  Paolo  whispered  the  words  after 
them,  strove  to  cross  his  hands  over  his  breast,  and 
fixed  his  eyes  on  a  crucifix.  Just  at  the  end  he 
exclaimed,  ^' Esto  perpetual  May  she  endure  for- 
ever ! "  True  Venetian  that  he  was,  his  last 
thought  was  of  Venice.     (January  15,  1623.) 

His  passing  caused  a  national  bereavement.  The 
Senate  ordered  a  state  funeral  in  his  honor,  and 
bade  their  ambassadors  abroad  to  report  Sarpi's 
death  to  the  monarchs  of  Europe.  A  memorial 
bust  was  decreed,  but  when  the  Papal  Nuncio  an- 
nounced that  the  Curia  would  regard  this  as  an 
affront,  the  Senate,  remembering  that  Urban  VIII, 
who  was  now  Pope,  as  Cardinal  Barberini  had  de- 
clared that  "  whoever  would  assassinate  Sarpi  would 
deserve  God's  grace,"  timidly  let  the  project  drop. 
To  stir  up  another  feud  with  Rome  over  something 
unessential,  seemed  foolish.  And  after  all,  as  Renier 
Zeno  wisely  reminded  them,  Sarpi's  monument  was 
imperishably  written  in  the  annals  of  Venice. 


288  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


The  enmity  of  Paul  V  and  the  Interdict  have 
usually  been  regarded  as  episodes  in  the  long  at- 
tempt of  Spain  to  destroy  the  Venetian  Eepublic. 
But  for  Venice  and  the  doughty  Dukes  of  Savoy, 
the  Spanish  supremacy  would  have  overlapped  the 
Peninsular  Spanish  influences  controlled  the  Curia 
and  drove  it,  under  the  plea  of  religion,  into  its 
conflict  with  Venice.  Sarpi  called  the  league  of  the 
Curia  and  the  Spaniards  Diacatholicon ;  as  if  the 
wholesome  and  beautiful  spirit  of  Catholicism  had 
been  distilled  away,  leaving  only  a  venom,  which 
manifested  itself  in  Jesuitry,  in  the  Inquisition,  in 
mundane  ambition,  and  in  corrupt  politics.  Venice 
lived  in  dread  of  this  secret  league.  When  Spain 
attached  Charles  Emanuel  she  subsidized  him ;  and 
at  every  point  she  had  spies  on  the  alert  to  give 
warning  of  danger.  She  knew  that  the  Duke  of 
Ossuna,  the  Spanish  Viceroy  of  Naples,  would  miss 
no  chance  to  injure  her,  and  that  Don  Pedro  de 
Toledo,  the  Spanish  Governor  at  Milan,  would 
march  into  her  territory  at  the  first  signal.  She 
did  not  at  first  suspect  that  the  Spanish  envoy  in 
her  own  city,  the  Marquis  of  Bedmar,  was  the  head 
of  the  conspiracy  against  her.  Spies  breed  traitors, 
if  they  be  not  different  aspects  of  the  same  base- 
ness. Jacques  Pierre,  a  French  corsair,  who  had 
been  in  Ossuna's  pay,  began  to  whisper  to  the 
Venetian  ambassadors  at  Rome  and  at  Naples  hints 
of  a  great  plot,  and  protestations  of  his  own  desire 
to  serve  the  Republic.  Cautious  at  first,  the  ambas- 
sadors  finally   concluded   that,  whether  his  story 


xni  SARPI  289 

were  true  or  not,  it  would  be  well  to  employ  Pierre, 
who  forthwith  went  to  Venice  and  quietly  gathered 
round  him  a  coterie  of  similar  adventurers.  They 
held  the  most  secret  communication  with  the  Mar- 
quis of  Bedmar,  and  with  Ossuna  and  Toledo,  who 
fell  into  the  trap.  They  planned  that  on  Ascen- 
sion Day,  1618,  when  the  whole  city  had  gone  to 
witness  the  Marriage  of  the  Adriatic,  the  conspira- 
tors should  blow  up  the  Arsenal,  seize  the  Ducal 
Palace  and  other  public  buildings,  plunder  the 
Mint,  start  fires  in  all  directions,  and  then  slay  the 
holiday-makers  as  they  returned  panic-stricken  from 
the  Lido.  Some  eighteen  hundred  soldiers  were 
said  to  be  enrolled;  a  fleet  of  Neapolitan  ships, 
laden  with  Ossuna's  troops,  was  to  appear  at  the 
proper  moment  and  deal  the  finishing  stroke. 
Nothing  seemed  easier/ 

But  on  April  9  the  Ten  received  an  anonymous 
telltale  letter.  Shortly  afterward,  an  informer  put 
them  on  the  track  of  the  ringleaders,  and  one 
morning  in  May,  Venetians  wondered  who  the  three 
wretches  were,  dangling  from  the  gibbet  in  the  Piaz- 
zetta.  The  low  inns  were  quickly  emptied  of  their 
dregs,  who  knew  at  that  first  arrest  that  their 
game  was  up,  and  rushed  landward  or  seaward  to 
save  themselves.  When  the  great  plot  leaked  out, 
Bedmar,  the  Sj)anish  ambassador,  fearing  an  out- 
burst of  popular  rage,  although  the  Senate  set  a 
guard  about  his  palace,  withdrew  to  Milan.  As  the 
details  came  to  be  understood,  Venice  vibrated  be- 
tween consternation  and  wrath.     The  government 


290  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

would  gladly  have  heeded  the  general  demand  for 
retribution,  but  it  realized  that  proof  of  a  con- 
spiracy to  which  a  foreign  ambassador  was  a  party 
is  hard  to  establish.  Sarpi,  when  consulted,  advised 
that  "  a  prudent  silence  shall  be  maintained,  for  they 
can  never  publish  to  the  world  the  particulars  of  a 
plot  which  exists  only  in  the  intention  of  its  pro- 
moters, and  has  reached  no  overt  act."  Even  so, 
Europe  showed  how  it  regarded  the  Spaniards  by 
believing  that  the  plot  was  a  fact.  The  Gunpowder 
Plot  in  England  was  too  recent  for  men  to  have 
forgotten  the  depths  to  which  Komish  and  Spanish 
malevolence  would  burrow. 

The  worst  symptom  of  the  Bedmar  conspiracy 
was  the  unearthing  of  a  small  number  of  nobles 
willing  to  join  foreigners  in  an  attempt  to  destroy 
their  country.  Whether  it  were  disaffection  due  to 
envy  of  the  dominant  party  in  the  oligarchy,  or 
poverty,  which  laid  them  open  to  Spanish  gold,  the 
existence  of  even  a  few  score  traitors  indicated  an 
ominous  decay  in  patriotism.  The  ever  vigilant 
Ten  redoubled  their  watchfulness,  and  succeeded, 
by  their  network  of  spies,  police,  and  bravi,  in  bring- 
ing all  the  traitorous  purposes  to  naught.  In  1620 
they  learned  that  Giambattista  Bragadin,  a  penni- 
less patrician,  was  selling  State  secrets  to  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  and  they  speedily  hanged  him. 
Their  precautions  might  often  be  unnecessary,  but 
they  never  fell  short.  Once,  indeed,  their  sus- 
picions led  them  to  commit  an  act  of  irreparable 
injustice. 


XIII  SARPI  291 

Antonio  Foscarini,  a  patrician,  went  in  1609  as 
Venetian  envoy  to  England.  Discovering  that  the 
contents  of  his  despatches  were  being  revealed  to 
other  ambassadors,  he  discharged  his  secretary, 
Scaramelli,  and  engaged  one  Muscorno  instead.  Mus- 
corno  was  a  charming,  lively  rogue,  popular  at  the 
English  court,  a  pet  even  of  the  English  queen,  his 
villainy  not  yet  suspected.  But  he  broke  at  last  with 
his  chief,  who  refused  him  some  request.  Muscorno 
vowed  vengeance,  and  in  due  season  he  printed  a 
book  purporting  to  give  the  sayings  and  doings  of 
Foscarini.  The  ambassador  had  been  sufficiently 
unguarded  in  his  speech  and  lavish  in  his  style  to 
lend  color  to  some  of  the  slanders.  The  Senate 
recalled  him,  but  after  a  minute  investigation,  ac- 
quitted him.  Muscorno  paid  for  his  calumnies  with 
only  two  years  in  prison.  Still  the  shadow  of  sus- 
picion hung  over  the  luckless  Foscarini.  New  in- 
formers whispered  against  him  that  he  frequented 
the  villa  of  the  Countess  of  Arundel,  whom  he  had 
known  in  England,  and  that  there  he  connived  with 
foreign  diplomats.  One  evening  he  was  seized, 
tried,  condemned,  and  before  the  following  daybreak 
he  was  strangled  (April  20,  21,  1622). 

Lady  Arundel,  escorted  by  Sir  Henry  Wotton, 
the  English  ambassador,  had  an  audience  of  the 
Signory,  to  whom  she  denounced  as  infamous  the 
implication  that  her  house  was  a  meeting-place  for 
conspirators,  and  declared  that  she  had  spoken  with 
Foscarini  only  once  in  a  year  and  a  half.  Less  than 
four  months  after  Foscarini's  execution,  a  wretch 


292  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE      chap,  xiii 

named  Vano,  who  had  been  the  principal  witness 
against  him,  confessed  that  the  accusation  was  a  lie. 
The  Ten,  by  a  public  statement  of  error,  by  an  honor- 
able funeral  and  a  monument,  made  what  reparation 
they  could  to  the  memory  of  their  victim. 


CHAPTEE  XIV 

DECLINE  AND  FALL 

^N  resisting  the  Interdict,  Venice  served  the  cause 
of  liberty  through  all  future  years ;  in  circumvent- 
ing the  Spanish  conspiracy,  she  proved  that  some 
of  the  vigor  of  her  prime  still  remained  to  hej^  It 
was  a  brave  thing  to  see  a  comparatively  small  state 
overcome  the  leagued  malice  of  the  Papacy  and 
Spain ;  a  rare  thing  to  see  a  state  in  a  life-or- 
death  crisis  turn  for  guidance  to  its  wisest  man ! 
Venice  was  saved,  but  nothing  could  hide  the  fact 
that  she  was  become,  through  the  fatal  transforma- 
tion of  Europe,  a  power  of  hardly  second  rank. 
The  great  stream  of  progress  set  henceforth ,  north 
of  the  Alps,  where  the  hopes  of  the  race  seemed  to 
be  bound  up  in  the  growth  of  the  Teutonic  nations, 
and  of  France,  which  alone  counted  among  the 
Latin  peoples.  For  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
Italy,  like  an  odalisk  among  contending  Eastern 
sultans,  was  to  be  the  spoil  of  one  foreign  con- 
queror after  another. 

To  escape  this  doom  was  the  anxiety  of  Venice 

dj*ring   the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

y^ven  before  Sarpi  died.  Central  Europe  was  torn 

by  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  throughout  which  the 

293 


294  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

Republic  steadfastly  maintained  her  neutrality^ 
Several  times  she  offered  to  mediate,  and  the  final 
negotiations  for  pea^e  were  partly  brought  about 
by  her  diplomats,  '^o  be  the  friend  of  everybody 
—  except  Spain  and  the  Turk — was  the  role  she 
strove  to  pla^*^^he  Interdict  had  strengthened  her 
relations  with  England ;  a  little  later  she  drew  near 
to  Holland ;  and  when  the  genius  of  the  House  of 
Vasa  raised  Sweden  to  a  commanding  position,  she 
counted  Sweden  among  her  wellwishers.  But  only 
indirectly  could  these  distant  states  aid  her.  The 
real  difficulty  lay  in  keeping  on  good  terms  with 
powerful  neighbors,  who  coveted  her  territory.  She 
joined  France  and  Savoy  in  the  war  against  Spain 
over  the  Valtelline,  but  got  nothing  in  return  for 
her  large  outlay;  unless  preventing  the  Spaniards 
from  securing  more  than  they  had  grasped  at  were 
a  compensation. 

^^fll  the  while  the  Republic  knew  that  her  chief 
,  peril  lay  with  the  Turk,  and  without  waiving  her 
dignity  she  took  care  not  to  provoke  a  conflict 
The  position  was  ticklish,  for  her  traders  fre- 
quented many  parts  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  and 
her  colonies  bounded  those  of  the  Turk,  facts  which 
.gave  endless  occasions  for  petty  disputes,  any  of 
which  might  flare  up  in  a  general  quarrel.  With 
the  decline  of  Venetian  commerce,  piracy  flourished 
in  the  Adriatic  and  through  the  Mediterranean. 
The  Turks  nominally  discountenanced  the  pirates, 
but  actually  they  often  stood  in  with  them.  From 
Algiers  and  Tripoli,  from  Dalmatia  and  the  eastern 


XIV  '  DECLINE  AND  FALL  295 

coast  of  Italy,  the  corsairs  set  out  on  their  sea  forays. 
'  The  Knights  of  Malta,  descended  from  zealous 
Crusaders,  made  a  business  of  preying  on  Mussul- 
man vessels,  and  equaled  their  Barbary  rivals  in 
daring  and  crime.  Through  them  it  was  that  the 
long-dreaded  catastrophe  occurred 

In  1644  a  squadron  of  Maltese  pirates  overtook 
some  Turkish  ships  carrying  pilgrims  to  Mecca, 
captured  them  after  a  stout  resistance,  and  sailed 
westward  with  their  booty.  It  happened  that 
among  the  passengers  were  thirty  of  the  Sultan's 
harem,  including  his  favorite  wife.  The  Maltese 
on  their  voyage  homeward  touched  for  water  and 
provisions  at  several  of  the  smaller  Candian  ports, 
where  they  set  free  some  Greeks  whom  they  had 
found  on  the  Turkish  ships.  When  the  news 
reached  Constantinople,  Sultan  Ibrahim  flew  into 
a  towering  rage,  and  vowed  the  destruction  of  the 
Maltese;  but  his  wrath  soon  turned  against  the 
Venetians,  whom  he  accused  of  instigating  the  pi- 
rates. Soranzo,  the  hailo  at  Constantinople,  denied 
the  charge,  declaring  that  the  Maltese  landed  in 
Candia  quite  unexpectedly,  and  had  been  ordered 
away  at  once.  The  Sultan  pretended  to  be  appeased, 
but  he  pushed  forward  the  equipment  of  a  vast 
armament  with  which,  it  was  announced,  he  meant 
to  annihilate  Malta.  The  Venetians,  suspecting 
evil,  made  preparations  to  defend  Candia. 

That  great  island,  governed  by  vassals  who 
ground  down  the  people  and  caused  many  bitter 
rebellions,  had  been  the  most  troublesome  of  all  her 


296  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

possessions.  The  natives  could  not  be  beaten  out 
of  their  love  of  liberty ;  and  gradually  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Venetian  colonists  also  clamored  for  in- 
dependence./Candia  was  to  Venice  what  Ireland 
has  been  to  England ;  but,  as  pride  had  long  for- 
bidden her  to  give  it  up,  so  now,  when  it  was 
threatened  by  the  Turk,  and  its  inhabitants  were 
on  friendly  terms  with  the  mother  country,  honor 
not  less  than  pride  forbade  her  to  abandon  it^^The 
island  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long,  and  so 
narrow  that  in  several  places  it  is  only  fifteen  miles 
across.  Mountains  cut  it  up  into  isolated  districts. 
Its  cities,  Canea,  Candia,  Spinalonga,  Suda,  lie 
embayed  along  the  northern  coast.  As  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  protect  the  five  hundred 
miles  of  seaboard,  defensive  measures  were  concen- 
trated on  the  cities,  certain  to  be  the  enemy's  ob- 
jective. Venice  sent  twenty-five  hundred  troops 
under  Andrea  Cornaro,  the  proveditor,  equipped 
a  fleet,  gave  the  command  of  the  land  force  to 
Gonzaga  and  Degenfeld,  a  northern  soldier,  and 
recruited  mercenaries  in  the  Archipelago. 

On  April  30,  1645,  the  Turkish  fleet  of  four  hun- 
dred sail,  with  fifty  thousand  troops,  left  the  Bos- 
phorus,  ostensibly  to  conquer  Malta.  On  June  23 
it  appeared  off  Canea.  The  Turks  began  without 
delay  to  besiege  the  city,  which  surrendered  after 
a  two  months'  defense  (August  22).  Italy  had 
already  taken  alarm  at  the  prospect  of  another 
Turkish  invasion,  and  the  Pope,  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  the  King  of  Naples,  and  the  Maltese 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  297 

furnished  each  a  few  galleys  to  act  with  the  Vene- 
tians ;  but  these  allies,  as  usual,  worked  at  cross 
purposes  and  accomplished  little.  The  Turks 
inferred  from  the  ease  with  which  they  captured 
Canea,  not  less  than  from  the  apparent  incompe- 
tence of  the  Venetian  commanders,  that  they  should 
find  the  whole  island  an  easy  prey.  They  were 
soon  undeceived.  Biagio  Zuliani  blew  up  the  fort 
of  S.  Teodoro,  —  himself,  garrison  and  all,  — 
rather  than  capitulate :  and  when  the  Turkish 
pasha  called  on  Suda  to  surrender,  Minotti  and 
Malipiero,  who  commanded  there,  replied :  "  The 
fortress  is  not  ours,  nor  can  we  dispose  of  it ;  but 
the  Doge  is  master,  and  he  has  intrusted  to  us  its 
defense,  which  we  shall  maintain  to  the  last  breath ; 
so  come  on  whenever  you  choose,  for  we  are  ready 
to  welcome  you."  In  their  courage,  these  men 
truly  represented  Venice.  When  the  winter  season 
put  a  stop  to  active  operations,  the  Turks  sat  down 
before  Candia,  the  capital  city,  in  the  sullen  deter- 
mination to  starve  it  out. 

Venice  had  now  to  decide  whether  to  prosecute 
the  war  or  to  buy  peace  by  ceding  the  island.  Few 
voices  spoke  for  peace,  although  nobody  was  deceived 
as  to  the  magnitude  of  the  struggle  ahead.  The 
first  year's  demands  had  exhausted  the  treasury. 
Interest  at  seven  per  cent,  showed  how  the  public 
credit  was  shaken.  To  raise  cash,  the  Signory 
adopted  a  desperate  means :  it  sold  offices  to  the 
highest  bidder,  and  admitted  to  the  ranks  of  the 
nobility  any  Venetian  who  maintained  one  thousand 


298  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

soldiers  for  one  year,  or  paid  the  equivalent,  sixty 
thousand  ducats.^  Even  provincials,  by  contribut- 
ing seventy  thousand  ducats,  could  see  their  names 
inscribed  in  the  Golden  Book.  So  largely  was  this 
honor  coveted,  that  ^ome  seventy  families  opened 
their  purses,  and  the  treasury  received  seven  mil- 
lion ducats.  That  this  transaction  jars  upon  us 
measures  the  high  estimation  we  are  bound  to  feel 
for  the  dignity  of  Venice;  in  other  states,  such 
traffic  would  have  occasioned  no  shock.  For  cen- 
turies, the  Papacy  had  been  cankered  with  simony 
—  bishops'  mitres,  cardinals'  hats,  the  pontiff's 
tiara  itself,  being  freely  bought  and  sold.  Even 
to-day  the  British  peerage  is  replenished  by  persons 
whose  first  qualification  is  wealth,  and  in  America 
lavish  subscribers  to  campaign  funds  are  requited 
with  cabinet  offices  and  ambassadorships.  The 
Prime  Minister  who  creates  batches  of  peers  to 
carry  a  vote  in  the  House  of  Lords,  or  the  President 
who  doles  out  honors  for  dollars,  has  certainly  no 
such  extenuation  to  offer  as  the  Venetian  Signory 
had  in  1646  :  yet  one  remembers  that  at  another 
crisis,  still  more  desperate,  Venetian  patriotism  pre- 
vailed over  private  ambition,  and  all  citizens,  noble 
or  gentle,  poured  their  wealth  into  the  treasury ; 
but  in  1646  the  spirit  of  1379  had  passed  away. 
I     We  must  not,  however,  be  unjust.     For  Venice 

1  "  But  this  course  is  used  with  a  reservation  always,"  says 
Howell,  writing  contemporaneously,  **  that  merit  must  concur 
with  money,  so  that  it  is  not  the  highest  bidder  that  carries  it " 
(p.  53). 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  PALL  299 

pushed  on  this  great  Candian  War  with  mettle 
worthy  of  the  days  of  her  unabated  glory.  Before 
hostilities  reopened  in  1646,  she  had  strengthened 
her  forces  in  Candia,  added  new  ships  to  her  fleets, 
prepared  to  extend  the  war  in  Dalmatia,  and  forti- 
fied Malamocco  and  the  Lido  against  a  possible 
naval  attack.  She  despatched  her  agents  into  every 
court  in  Europe,  and  even  tp  Persia,  in  the  hope  of 
rousing  a  general  crusad/K  Unfortunately  for  her, 
the  European  situation  almost  assured  the  Turk 
that  he  need  fear  no  Christian  alliance.  England 
was  torn  by  civil  war,  and  France  was  involved  in 
the  interminable  struggle'  which  had  convulsed 
Central  Europe  since  1618.  Nothing  daunted, 
Venice  singly  met  the  enemy  when  spring  came. 
Little  did  either  combatant  foresee  that  it  would 
take  a  quarter  of  a  century  to  end  the  struggle. 

We  cannot  describe  piecemeal  twenty-five  years 
of  fighting  ;  such  a  chronicle  would  be  sad  to  read, 
and  tedious.  The  Turks  proposed  to  reduce,  the 
city  of  Candia  by  blockade  and  siege.  The  Vene- 
tians strove  to  keep  the  city  provisioned,  and  by 
blockading  the  Dardanelles  to  prevent  stores  or 
reinforcements  for  the  Turkish  army  in  Crete 
from  passing  through.  As  a  further  diversion,  she 
carried  on  a  guerrilla  fight  in  Dalmatia.  Year  by 
year  the  contest  fluctuated  round  these  three 
objects^^  The  Venetians  won  some  splendid  victo- 
ries, butythey  could  not  dislodge  the  Turks  from 
Candia/and  by  a  defeat,  or  failure  to  strike  at  the 
opportmie  moment,  they  more  than  once  lost  what 


300  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

promised  to  be  a  telling  advantage  in  the  Levant. 
In  1648  the  llepublic  sounded  the  Porte  as  to  terms 
of  peace,  but  when  she  learned  that  the  cession  of 
Candia  was  the  first  demand,  she  declined  to  ne- 
gotiate/* Ten  years  later  the  Turks  offered  to  end 
the  war  on  the  same  terms,  and  were  rejected. 
Venice  sought  everywhere  for  helj^.  To  placate  the 
Pope,  she  consented  to  the  return  of  the  Jesuits 
(1657).  She  urged  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don  to  in- 
vade Turkey.  She  cherished  hopes  that  the  Magyars 
might  break  through  the  Balkans  and  threaten  Con- 
stantinople by  land/The  magnificent  resistance 
of  Candia  did,  in  truth,  stir  the  admiration  of  the 
Christian  world,  although  it  failed,  through  the  per- 
versity of  foreign  politicians,  to  call  the  needed 
allies  to  the  rescue.  One  imagines  that  the  first 
question  put  to  newsbringers  in  those  days  was, 
"Does  Candia  still  hold  out?'^  Twice,  indeed, 
large  bodies  of  French  volunteers  landed  on  the 
island  and  expected  by  a  single  brilliant  stroke  to 
destroy  the  Turkish  army  and  win  eternal  fame. 
But  both  times  they  were  quickly  worsted,  and 
lacking  perseverance  they  sailed  away. 

Although  heroism  is  the  commonplace  of  war, 
yet  we  cannot  pass  over  unmentioned  some  of  the 
heroic  deeds  of  the  Venetians  in  this  gigantic 
struggle.  In  1647  a  fierce  wind  blew  Tommaso 
Morosini  out  of  his  course  to  Negropont,  where  the 
Turkish  fleet  lay.  Morosini  had  only  a  single 
galley,  the  Turks  had  forty-five,  yet  he  did  not 
flinch.     He  cannonaded  the  enemy  until  they  came 


XIV.  DECLINE  AND  FALL  301 

to  close  quarters ;  then  he  fought  them  with  Greek 
fire.  At  last  they  boarded,  and  he  was  struck 
down;  still  his  men  would  not  yield,  and  before 
long  the  whole  Venetian  fleet,  drawn  to  the  scene 
by  the  firing,  put  the  Turks  to  flight.  Since  Sir 
Eichard  Grenville  in  the  Revenge  dared  the  Span- 
ish galleons  at  Flores,  such  valor  had  had  no  par- 
allel. The  same  sj^irit  upheld  the  Venetians  on 
shore.  When  a  Turkish  mine  exploded  at  Candia, 
and  an  officer  rushed  to  Luigi  Mocenigo,  the  Cap- 
tain-General, with  the  cry,  "AH  is  lost ! "  Mocenigo 
said :  "  Well,  then,  we  will  die  sword  in  hand.  Let 
whoever  is  not  a  coward,  follow  me  ! "  He  repulsed 
the  onslaught  of  the  enemy,  and,  in  the  words  of 
Komanin,  "  cost  the  Turks  twenty  years  of  war." 
Another  Mocenigo  —  Lazzaro — displayed  similar 
resolution;  he  was  running  the  Turkish  batteries 
in  the  Dardanelles  on  an  expedition  against  Con- 
stantinople itself,  when  the  magazine  on  his  ship 
exploded  and  he  was  killed  by  a  falling  spar.  His 
death  checked  an  enterprise  which  might  have 
turned  the  fortunes  of  the  contest.  Splendid,  too, 
were  the  exploits  of  Francesco  Morosini,  the  last  of 
the  Venetian  commanders  who  combined  genius  for 
generalship  with  flawless  personal  bravery. 

But  the  Turks  were  equally  brave.  They  had 
large  reserves  to  draw  fresh  troops  from,  and  being 
a  nation  whose  first  industry  was  war,  they  suffered 
less  than  the  Venetians  from  the  impoverishment  of 
war.  Above  all,  they  could  not  be  driven  from  their 
positions  in  Crete.     In  1667  they  drew  their  siege 


302  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

lines  still  nearer  to  the  city  of  Candia  and  carried 
on  a  vigorous  bombardment.  The  earth  was  honey- 
combed with  mines  and  countermines.  In  less  than 
six  months  the  Venetians  made  17  sorties,  repelled 
32  assaults,  sprang  618  mines,  lost  3600  men,  and 
killed  (by  their  own  estimate)  20,000  Turks.  The 
next  year  twelve  regiments  of  Erench  under  the 
Duke  de  La  Feuillade  and  others  came  to  the  island. 
They  would  not  listen  to  Morosini's  advice,  and 
having  be^n  routed  in  an  ill-judged  sally,  they 
departed.  The  Venetians,  despite  their  herculean 
efforts,  were  surely  failing.  In  1669,  having  sur- 
prised and  destroyed  a  Turkish  fleet,  Morosini  used 
his  victory  as  a  lever  for  moving  the  vizier  to  make 
peace.y  On  September  6  they  signed  the  treaty  by 
which  the  Sultan  received  the  city  of  Candia  and 
the  rest  of  the  island,  except  the  ports  of  Carabusa, 
Suda,  and  Spinalonga,  and  the  Venetians  were  to 
withdraw  with  328  cannon,  their  troops,  munitions, 
and  holy  vessels.  On  September  26,  1669,  they 
evacuated  the  capital,  4000  of  whose  inhabitants 
embarked  with  them  for  the  mother  country. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  obstinate  of  wars  — 
one  so  prolonged  that  many  of  the  soldiers  who  saw 
its  close  were  not  born  when  it  began.  It  cost  Venice 
126,000,000  ducats,  equivalent  in  purchasing  power 
to  a  billion  and  half  dollars  to-day.  Her  loss  in 
men  was  heavy,  though  far  smaller  than  that  of 
the  Turks,  108,000  of  whom  perished  in  the  siege 
of  Candia  alone.  After  dazzling  the  world  by  her 
magnificent  defense,  she  came  out  of  the  ordeal  a 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  303 

broken  power.  Negropont  had  been  wrested  from 
her  in  1470,  Cyprus  in  1571,  and  now  Candia  in 
1669  ;  by  these  stages  was  her  empire  in  the  Orient 
shorn.  Henceforth  she  must  content  herself  with 
the  Adriatic. 

In  making  peace  without  consulting  the  Sen- 
ate, Morosini  disobeyed  precedent,  for  which  some 
sticklers  would  have  impeached  him;  but  the 
majority  of  the  Great  Council  understood  well 
enough  that  he  had  acted  wisely,  and  they  absolved 
him.  The  Eepublic  set  about  recuperating  her 
strength.  But  the  loss  of  Candia  rankled.  The 
Turks  having  been  driven  back  from  Vienna  (1683), 
—  the  farthest  point  they  were  destined  to  reach  in 
their  westward  invasion, — the  Venetians  deemed  it 
safe  to  join  the  league  against  them  (1684).  Moro- 
sini carried  the  war  into  Greece,  and  during  the  first 
summer  (1685)  he  captured  Coron  and  conquered  the 
province  of  Maina;  the  next  year  his  lieutenant, 
Konigsmark,  took  Modon  and  Nauplia ;  in  1687  he 
added  the  rest  of  the  Peloponnese,  except  the  for- 
tress of  Malvasia,  to  his  conquests,  and  the  Venetian 
Senate  decreed  that  a  bronze  bust  of  him,  bearing 
the  inscription,  ^^  Francesco  Maurosceno  Peloponne- 
siaco,"  should  be  placed  in  the  Sala  dello  Scrutinio. 
In  his  following  campaign  he  conquered  Athens. 
During  the  bombardment  a  Venetian  shell  burst 
in  the  Parthenon,  where  the  Turks  stored  their 
powder,  and  caused  an  explosion  which  shattered 
the  temple.  It  is  one  of  the  ironies  of  history,  that 
the  general  of  the  most  beautiful  of  modern  cities 


304  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

should  have  been  the  instrument  to  destroy  the 
most  beautiful  building  of  antiquity  !  "  Alas, 
Athens ! "  Morosini  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  as  he 
saw  the  havoc  his  guns  had  made,  "  cradle  of  the 
arts,  hqw  art  thou  now  brought  low ! "  He  was  still 
prosecuting  the  war,  when  he  received  word  that 
he  had  been  elected  doge.  On  going  home  to  be 
crowned,  his  countrymen  gave  him  an  overwhelm- 
ing welcome;  for  they  felt  that  his  victories  more 
than  compensated  for  the  loss  of  Crete. 

With  an  access  of  their  old-time  energy  they  set 
about  organizing  a  government,  commerce,  and  edu- 
cation in  the  Morea ;  and  they  worked  so  efficiently 
that  the  population  doubled  in  the  course  of  a  few  - 
years.  But  the  Turks  would  not  stay  quiet  long, 
and  when  other  Venetian  commanders  had  failed  in 
beating  them,  Morosini  himself  was  chosen  Captain- 
General  and  took  the  field  —  a  breach  of  precedent 
which  the  jealous  Signory  had  not  permitted  for 
many  hundred  years.  He  reached  the  Morea  in 
the  summer,  and  after  an  unimportant  campaign 
he  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Nauplia.  There 
he  died  January  9, 1694.  With  Francesco  Morosini 
expired  the  last  of  the  great  Venetians.  By  the 
Peace  of  Carlowitz,  which  Prince  Eugene's  victory 
at  Zenta  (September  11,  1697)  forced  the  Sultan  to 
accept,  the  Republic  was  formally  recognized  as 
mistress  of  the  Morea  (1698).  She  enjoyed  only  a 
brief  tenure,  however,  for  in  1716  the  Turks  won  it 
back,  with  the  Candian  ports  which  she  had  clung 
to,  and  the  Peace  of  Passarovitz  (1718)  confirmed 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  305 

the  Turks  in  their  conquest.  Never  again  did  the 
Republic  take  part  in  negotiations  of  European 
scope. 

The  Candian  War  and  the  conquest  of  the  Morea 
redeem  the  old  age  of  Venice  from  insignificance. 
It  was  fitting  that  she  who  "  once  held  the  gorgeous 
East  in  fee"  should  defend  the  modern  world, — 
the  world  which  had  abandoned  her,  —  from  the 
last  dangerous  onset  of  the  Ottomans.  That  effort 
drained  her  lifeblood,  but  it  also  crippled  the  Turk 
beyond  recovery.  It  let  men  see  that  neither  lux- 
ury, nor  the  disillusions  and  timidity  of  old  age, 
could  wholly  quench  that  sense  of  honor  which  had 
been  hers  for  a  thousand  years.  And  in  the  career 
of  Morosini  the  Peloponnesian,  —  patriot,  hero,  and 
doge,  —  the  latest  Venetians  seemed  to  be  linked 
with  the  earlier,  with  the  generations  which  had 
followed  Orseolo  the  Great,  and  Michiel,  and  En- 
rico Dandolo,  before  the  Ten  and  the  Three  had 
reduced  the  Doge  to  a  figurehead.  In  that  after- 
glow of  heroism  and  that  reversion  to  the  practice 
of  her  glorious  prime,  she  fulfilled  her  destiny. 
/During  the  eighteenth  century,  after  the  Peace  j 
of  Passarovitz,  Venice  had  little  external  histor^ 
She  was  obliged  to  chastise  the  corsairs  of  Dulcigno 
who  harassed  her  merchantmen  in  the  Adriatic,  and 
it  was  her  admiral,  Angelo  Emo,  who  cleansed  the 
seas  of  the  Algerine  pirates  (1784-92).  She  dared 
to  risk  a  rupture  with  Benedict  XIV  over  his  illegal 
granting  of  indulgences.  She  undertook  the  con- 
struction along  the  lidi  of  a  sea  wall  which  then 


306  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


CHAP. 


had  hardly  a  rival  in  magnitude.  By  commercial 
treaties,  and  by  economic  experiments,  she  tried  to 
revive  her  prosperity.  As  the  century  wore  on, 
there  was  indeed  a  little  stir  of  new  life,  when  the 
ideas  which  begot  the  French  Revolution  dropped 
seedwise  into  receptive  minds.  But  her  power  of 
initiative  had  vanished. 

Some  historians  discover  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  the  last  two  centuries  a  definite  effort  to  modify 
the  organic  structure  of  the  Republic.  The  Great 
Council  and  the  Ten  with  their  offshoot,  the  Three, 
were  in  constant  antagonism,  for  the  Ten  and  the 
Three  held  themselves  above  their  nominal  master, 
the  Great  Council.  Having  the  police  work  of 
the  state  in  their  charge,  they  could  not  be  popu- 
lar—  policemen  never  are.  The  system  of  espio- 
nage, by  which  they  got  information  of  the  most 
trivial  affairs,  was  not  the  less  odious  for  being 
accepted  as  necessary.  Above  all,  the  Ten  were 
held  responsible  for  the  division  of  the  aristocracy 
into  a  higher  and  a  lower  class,  wealth  being  the 
test.  It  became  the  practice,  if  it  were  not  actually 
the  law,  to  close  the  great  offices  to  the  poor  nobles ; 
for  only  the  rich  could  maintain  the  requisite  pomp 
and  escape  the  suspicion  of  taking  bribes.  After 
1500,  when  Venetian  commerce  began  to  decline, 
the  number  of  poor  nobles  multiplied.  These  Bar- 
nabotti,  as  they  were  called,  still  had  their  seats 
in  the  Great  Council,  but,  as  the  power  of  the  Ten 
increased,  they  exercised  less  and  less  influence  on 
the  government,  until  it  came  to  pass  that  they 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  307 

could  not  prevent  the  enacting  of  laws  against 
themselves. 

In  insisting  on  wealth  as  the  basis  of  the  oligar- 
chy, the  Ten  followed  the  tradition  of  the  Eepub- 
lic.  A  state  controlled  by  pauper  patricians  would 
be  ridiculous.  The  problem  in  every  country  ruled 
by  a  privileged  class  has  been  how  to  guard  against 
the  deterioration  of  that  class,  —  how  to  slough  off 
its  incompetent  or  unlucky  members,  —  and  it  has 
never  been  successfully  solved ;  for  by  the  very 
constitution  of  such  countries,  these  undesirable 
members  cannot  be  deprived  of  the  position  which 
they  owe  to  the  accident  of  birth.  The  Ten  had 
to  keep  the  patriciate  from  becoming  through  its 
poor  relations  despicable  in  the  eyes  of  the  common 
people ;  it  had  also  to  secure  the  ablest  public  ser- 
vants ;  but  after  the  discrimination  between  the  rich 
and  the  poor  nobles  was  practiced,  and  a  few  great 
families  constituted  the  state,  much  more  after  rich 
merchants  could  buy  their  way  into  the  Golden  Book, 
it  was  difficult  to  parry  the  charge  of  the  malcontents 
that  wealth  and  not  patriotism  was  the  cardinal  qual- 
ification in  a  Venetian  noble.  The  poor,  as  happens 
everywhere,  bred  freely,  so  that  their  contingent  in 
the  Great  Council  constantly  increased,  and  their 
sense  of  wrongs  Vas  proportionately  sharpened. 

The  first  clash  between  the  Great  Council  and  the 
Ten  occurred  in  1582,  when  the  Council  refused  to 
confirm  a  candidate  whom  the  Ten  nominated  to  its 
Junta.  Forty  years  later  the  execution  of  Antonio 
Foscarini,  quickly  followed  by  proofs  of  his  inno- 


308  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

cence,  shocked  and  alarmed  everybody.  That  the 
Ten  should  punish  swiftly,  was  taken  for  granted; 
that  they  should  not  punish  on  an  uncertainty, 
was  presupposed:  if  they  blundered  so  terribly 
with  Foscarini,  who  was  safe? 

Minds  were  thus  inflamed  when  Renier  Zeno  re- 
turned from  an  embassy  to  Rome  and  was  elected  to 
the  Ducal  Council  (1624).  He  belonged  in  the  esti- 
mation of  his  enemies  to  that  type  of  reformers  who 
have  a  boundless  capacity  for  irritating  and  little 
for  persuading  —  men  who,  were  they  gatekeepers 
of  heaven,  would  see  a  stampede  of  aspirants  to 
sainthood  turn  in  the  other  direction.  Yet,  withal, 
Zeno  had  amazing  courage,  pertinacity,  and  a  just 
cause.  A  difference  of  opinion  quickly  arose  be- 
tween him  and  Doge  Contarini;  he  was  adjudged 
guilty  of  disrespect  to  his  Serenity,  and  banished 
for  a  year.  In  a  few  months  he  came  back,  cov- 
ered with  popularity,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  Ten. 
He  at  once  opened  fire  on  the  Doge,  of  whose  sons 
one  had  recently  accepted  a  cardinal's  hat,  and  two 
others  had  been  made  Senators.  Zeno  rightly  de- 
clared that  this  was  an  infringement  on  the  ducal 
promission;  and  when  his  colleagues  tried  to  sup- 
press him,  the  ^reat  Council  backed  him  up.  The 
Doge  protested  that  if  he  had  transgressed  the  law, 
he  had  done  so  unintentionally.  Assassins  waylaid 
Zeno,  and  wounded  him  severely.  On  his  recovery, 
he  renewed  his  agitation.  The  Great  Council  again 
elected  him  to  the  Ten,  who  warned  him  that  if  he 
attempted  to  reopen  the  quarrel,  he  should  suffer. 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  309 

Nothing  daunted,  he  addressed  the  Great  Council 
at  its  next  meeting.  One  of  his  opponents  told 
him,  "  This  Republic  is  such  that  it  will  tolerate  no 
Caesars  "  ;  but  the  taunt  failed,  because  Zeno  made 
it  clear  that  he,  like  Brutus,  was  fighting  for  old-time 
freedom,  which  despots  had  robbed  Venice  of.  His 
allusions  to  the  Doge  brought  a  sharp  rejoinder  from 
that  dignitary.  The  meeting  closed  in  a  hubbub. 
That  same  day  the  Ten  deliberated  as  to  arresting 
Zeno,  but  thinking  that  imprudent,  they  ordered 
him  to  keep  in  retreat ;  a  few  days  later,  they  de- 
creed his  exile.  Popular  excitement  now  rose  so 
high  against  them  that  they  wavered,  and  the 
Great  Council  annulled  the  decrees  by  nearly  three 
votes  to  one  (out  of  1146  voting). 

Zeno  appeared  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Great 
Council  and  urged  so  vehemently  the  need  of  reform, 
that  a  commission  of  five  "  correctors "  was  pres- 
ently chosen  to  revise  the  capitularies  of  all  the 
councils.  The  commissioners  disagreed  on  several 
points,  and  the  Great  Council  finally  voted  that  it 
alone  had  authority  over  all  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  it  conceded,  nevertheless,  to  the  Ten  juris- 
diction over  the  patriciate,  on  the  ground  that  the 
conduct  of  the  nobles  directly  concerned  the  State. 
The  efforts  of  Zeno,  of  whom  after  1628  we  hear  no 
more,  came  to  naught;  but  that  one  man  should 
raise  such  a  storm,  shows  that  individual  courage 
still  counted  in  that  rigid  body.  The  truth  is  that 
any  attempt  to  convert  the  Signory  into  a  repre- 
sentative  government   after   the    English   pattern 


310  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

would  have  run  counter  to  the  genius  of  the  Vene- 
tians, and  to  their  practices  for  five  hundred  years. 
After  Zeno  had  his  quietus,  the  poor  nobles  kept  on 
multiplying  and  grumbling,  and  the  Ten  continued 
in  very  nearly  their  old  course. 

In  1761  a  silly  affair  let  loose  the  latent  hatred 
of  the  Barnabotti.  A  lady  of  Brescia,  whose  mil- 
liner had  not  furnished  coifs  that  suited  her,  per- 
suaded Angelo  Querini,  a  Senator  with  whom  she 
was  intimate,  to  cause  the  milliner  to  be  expelled 
from  Venice.  The  victim  of  this  tyranny  appealed 
to  the  Inquisitors  of  State,  who  revoked  the  order. 
Querini  burst  into  rage  against  their  arbitrariness  ; 
but  when  they  resolved  to  arrest  and  deport  him, 
the  Great  Council  took  his  side.  Indignation 
against  the  Three,  and  their  superiors,  the  Ten,  ran 
so  strong  that  a  new  commission  of  correctors  had 
to  be  appointed.  Their  report  caused  an  outburst 
in  the  Great  Council,  but  again  the  majority  passed 
a  vote  of  confidence  in  the  Ten  and  the  Three. 
The  instinct  of  the  nobility  recognized  that,  in 
spite  of  their  tyranny,  they  were  indispensable; 
and  the  common  people  rejoiced  to  see  them  upheld, 
as  the  only  powers  that  dared  to  keep  the  insolent 
patricians  in  check.  A  little  later,  when  Giorgio 
Pisani  and  Carlo  Contarini,  imbued  with  a  sense  of 
the  decadence  of  the  Kepublic,  advocated  reforms, 
the  police  escorted  them  out  of  the  capital. 

The  ancient  organism  could  not  readjust  itself  to 
new  conditions,  nor  even  tolerate  the  annoyance  of 
having  reforms  suggested.     Historians  commonly 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  311 

linger  over  tlie  last  century  of  the  life  of  Venice,  as 
if  for  the  satisfaction  of  pointing  a  moral.  After 
the  record  of  a  thousand  years  of  glory,  the  con- 
trast of  decadence,  of  exhaustion  from  dissipation, 
of  the  sceptre  dropping  from  the  vice-enfeebled 
grasp,  is  too  tempting  for  the  moralist  to  pass  by. 
Sudden  extinction  would  have  been  far  less  tragic; 
but  Fate  does  not  grant  that  to  a  whole  people. 

The  Queen  of  the  Adriatic  during  those  last  dec- 
ades lured  the  pleasure  seekers  of  the  world  to  her. 
She  had  reduced  voluptuousness  to  a  fine  art.  The 
serenades,  the  balls,  and  masquerades  at  the  casi- 
nos, the  incessant  gambling  at  the  Ridotto,  the  luxu- 
rious country  life  in  the  villas  along  the  Brenta, 
the  sumptuous  apparel  and  stately  ceremonies,  the 
conversazioni,  the  banquets,  the  mirth  not  wholly 
forced,  go  on  from  year  to  year.  One  gets  the  best 
of  it  in  Goldoni's  comedies.  Life  has  become  all 
comedy,  too  light  to  warrant  serious  comment. 
Morals  have  disappeared,  and  in  their  stead  we 
have  manners  —  insincere,  superficial,  yet  full  of 
grace.  Manners  permit  all  sins,  so  long  as  the  sin- 
ner does  not  shock  good  taste.  The  profession  of 
courtesan,  too  long  honored  in  Venice,  and  formerly 
restricted  to  a  single  class,  was  now  practiced  by 
all  classes.  Family  ties  among  the  patricians  had 
grown  so  perilously  slack  that  marriage  did  not 
become  obsolete,  only  because  it  was  necessary 
for  propagating  a  legitimate  heir ;  that  achieved, 
conjugal  relations  ceased  by  mutual  consent.  The 
patrician   husband   kept   his   mistresses,  the   wife 


312  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

had  her  permanent  cicisheo  and  her  casual  lovers; 
often,  indeed,  it  was  stipulated  in  the  marriage  con- 
tract who  the  cicisheo  should  be.  Poor  nobles  —  hun- 
gry, envious,  proud  —  were  huddled  in  palace  attics. 

\  The  oligarchy  had  reached  its  last  stage.  The  other 
classes  do  not  seem  to  have  been  equally  corrupt. 
The  business  men  and  the  shopkeepers  got  a  living, 
although  the  days  of  great  commercial  prosperity 
had  passed;  the  lower  classes,  the  conditions  of 
whose  existence  rise  or  fall  very  slowly,  were  still 
probably  as  comfortable  as  any  of  their  fellows  in 
Europe.     A  twelfth  of  the  people  received  alms. 

Only  the  Ten  and  the  Three  toiled  on  sleeplessly. 
Little  by  little  they  had  excluded  their  partners 
in  the  government.  "  We  will  work ;  trust  us :  all 
leisure  shall  be  yours,"  so  they  seemed  to  say  to 
their  brother  patricians.  Their  zeal  for  the  State 
never  flagged,  but  it  greW  narrower  \  and  the  idle- 
ness which  it  procured  for  others,  sapped  the  last 
energy  of  the  Venetian  oligarchy,  for  it  took  away 
ambition.  The  Venetian  nobles,  whose  ancestors 
had  been  merchants  of  great  enterprise,  and  whose 
grandfathers  had  still  been  allowed  to  employ  their 
faculties  in  administration,  were  reduced  to  a  life 

,  without  aim  or  incentive.  To  make  the  cut  of  a 
milliner's  coif  an  affair  of  state,  proclaims  their 
inanity.  I  The  Ten  and  Three  faithfully  carried  out 
their  bargain.  They  kept  the  city  quiet,  —  no  poli- 
tics, no  open  feuds,  no  noisy  discontent,  —  a  perfect 
field  for  genteel  dissipation.  And  yet  according  to 
their  lights  they  tried  to  restrain  those  forms  of  dis- 


xrv  DECLINE  AND  FALL  313 

sipation  —  gambling,  for  instance,  and  extravagant 
dress — which  they  feared  would  injure  the  Repub- 
lic. The  machine  framed  to  govern  an  empire  had 
now  hardly  more  than  the  policing  of  a  city  for  its 
object.  The  State  was  overgoverned ;  bureaus  and 
departments,  with  little  further  reason  for  existing, 
swarmed  with  poor  relations  —  pensioners  who  did 
the  State  no  service.^ 

And  all  the  while  streams  of  visitors  thronged 
into  the  beautiful  city,  which  had  become,  more  even 
than  Paris,  the  centre  of  the  world's  revels.  To  the 
stranger,  under  the  spell  of  the  siren,  the  sight  of 
the  worn-out  patriciate,  of  the  shrunken  commerce 
and  the  tottering  State,  brought  no  pang :  the  place 
Avas  too  poetic  for  realities  as  he  knew  them  at  home, 
and  he  found  that  these  spectral  reminders  of  past 
greatness  harmonized  with  his  dream  of  Venice.  If 
he  sought  voluptuous  entertainment,  he  hud  it: 
what  mattered  it  to  him  that  the  siren  who  beguiled 
him  was  dying,  body  and  soul  ?  Not  least  tragic 
was  the  consciousness  of  some  of  the  Venetians 
themselves  that  these  things  led  inevitably  to  de- 
struction, and  that  they  must  look  on  powerless  to 
save.  "  This  century  will  be  terrible  to  our  sons 
and  grandsons,"  said  Doge  Foscarini,  at  about  the 
same  time  that  Louis  XV  uttered  his  cynicism, 
"  After  us,  the  deluge."  The  Venetians,  some  of 
them,  at  least,  would  have  sacrificed  their  lives  to 
avert  the  catastrophe ;  but  they  did  not  know  how, 
and  they  had  the  added  distress  of  perceiving  that 
their  ignorance  meant  ruin. 


314  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

The  crash  came  at  last  when  the  French  Kevolu- 
tion  sounded  the  knell  of  the  Old  Regime.  Through 
its  alert  diplomats  the  Signory  could  follow  the 
wildfire  progress  in  Paris  toward  anarchy;  but, 
although  startled,  it  hardly  realized  how  the  Revo- 
lution would  affect  Venice,  until  in  1796  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  swept  down  into  Italy  with  a  French 
army,  to  drive  out  the  Austrians  and  overthrow 
the  old  governments.  The  Republic  declared  her 
neutrality ;  but  this  did  not  save  her  territory  from 
being  overrun  by  both  contestants.  Bonaparte 
crushed  in  turn  Alvinzi,  Beaulieu,  Wtirmser,  the 
Austrian  generals ;  only  Venice  remained,  and  both 
he  and  the  Directory  at  Paris  had  decided  on  put- 
ting an  end  to  her  existence. 

Any  pretext  would  do.  While  his  troops  occupied 
several  of  the  cities  of  the  mainland,  his  emissaries 
conspired  under  the  very  shadow  of  the  Ducal  Pal- 
ace. He  sowed  accusations  against  the  "gloomy 
despotism  of  the  Lagoons,"  and  appealed  to  the 
Venetians  to  welcome  himself  and  the  French  as 
allies  bringing  liberty.  He  pretended  that  the 
Signory  was  covertly  abetting  Austria  against  him ; 
yet  almost  at  the  same  moment  he  signed  the  secret 
preliminaries  of  peace  at  Leoben,  in  which  he  agreed 
to  cede  to  Austria  the  Venetian  Terra  Firma,  with 
Istria  and  Dalmatia  (April  18,  1797).  So  two 
robbers  divide  the  spoils  before  they  have  slain  their 
victim.  Bonaparte  did  not  stick  at  circulating 
forged  manifestoes,  which  purported  to  come  from 
Venetian  leaders  and  urged  the  people  to  rise  and 


XIV  DECLINE  AND  FALL  315 

massacre  the  French.  At  Verona,  the  populace, 
exasperated  by  the  truculence  of  the  French  soldiery, 
did  rise  and  slay  many  score  of  their  tormentors, 
making  the  "  Veronese  Easter  "  a  grim  reminder  of 
the  "  Sicilian  Vespers."  To  a  deputation  which  the 
Signory  sent  to  him  at  Graz,  Bonaparte  said,  "I 
wish  no  more  Inquisition,  no  more  Senate ;  I  will  be 
an  Attila  to  the  Venetian  Senate"  (April  25).  And 
he  kept  his  word. 

/^he  French  troops  advanced  to  Malghera  and 
Brondolo,  ready  to  descend  on  the  capital.  A 
French  cruiser  tried  to  force  its  way  into  the  har- 
bor, but  was  captured,  and  its  commander  killed. 
This  rekindled  Bonaparte's  wrath.  The  Signory 
in  bewilderment  discussed  measures  of  defeuse  ; 
but  what  in  its  feebleness  could  it  do?  Already 
the  boom  of  French  cannon  rolled  over  the  Lagoons. 
"  To-night  we  shall  not  be  safe  even  in  bed,"  said 
the  bewildered  Doge,  Lodovico  Manin.  Kesistance 
being  despaired  of,  the  Great  Council  on  May  1 
voted  to  despatch  envoys  to  Bonaparte  to  negotiate 
a  change  in  government.  That  same  day  he  had 
declared  war.  He  insisted  on  suicidal  terms  —  the 
abdication  of  the  Signory,  the  extinction  of  the 
Senate,  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  popular 
representative  government.  On  May  12  the  Great 
Council  met  to  take  action.  Whilst  Giovanni 
Minotti,  the  senior  Ducal  Councilor,  was  speaking, 
a  sound  of  artillery  was  heard.  The  panic-stricken 
assemblage,  believing  that  the  French  were  at 
hand,  shouted,  "  The  question !  the  question !  "  and 


316  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

without  further  debate,  began  to  ballot.  There 
were  512  votes  for  accepting  Bonaparte's  terms, 
20  for  rejecting  them,  and  5  defective  votes  — 
showing  only  537  members  present,  less  than  half  of 
the  Great  Council,  which  then  numbered  over  1200. 
Nevertheless,  the  vote  stood,  and  the  Venetian  Re- 
public ceased  to  be.  That  night  Manin,  the  last  of 
the  doges,  took  off  his  ducal  bonnet  and  handed  it 
to  a  servant,  saying,  "Put  it  away:  we  shall  not 
use  it  again."  It  was  just  eleven  hundred  years 
since  the  election  of  Anafesto,  the  first  Doge  of 
Venice. 

Under  French  auspices  a  provisional  democratic 
government  was  set  up.  Throughout  the  summer 
the  French  looted  the  city  and  Dogado,  and  shipped 
to  Paris  paintings,  statues,  manuscripts,  jewels  to 
adorn  the  Louvre  —  that  storehouse  where  the  most 
rapacious  of  thieves  deposited  his  stolen  goods. 
In  the  autumn  at  Campo  Formio,  Bonaparte  con- 
cluded with  Austria  a  final  treaty  in  which  it  was 
agreed  that  France  should  keep  the  Ionian  Islands, 
and  that  Austria  should  annex  Dalmatia,  Istria, 
Venice,  and  the  Venetian  mainland  as  far  west  as 
Lake  Garda  and  the  Adige  (October  17).  Uncon- 
sulted  and  despised,  the  Venetians,  still  nominally 
free,  were  thus  made  subjects  of  the  House  of 
Hapsburg.  On  January  18,  1798,  the  last  detach- 
ment of  French  despoilers  having  embarked,  the 
first  Austrian  corps  took  possession  of  the  capital. 

Death  from  old  age  requires  no  autopsy.  The 
Venetian  Republic  had  lived  out  its  life.     It  had 


XIV  DECLINE   AND  FALL  317 

enjoyed  longevity  beyond  all  other  states.  Like 
a  species  born  in  one  geologic  age,  it  survived  iato 
another  for  which  it  was  not  adapted.  The  com- 
panions of  its  youth  and  maturity  had  all  van- 
ished except  the  Papacy  and  the  Holy  Eoman 
Empire;  Napoleon  was  soon  to  carry  the  Pope 
captive  to  Pontainebleau,  and  to  snuff  out  the 
flickering  Empire ;  for  he  was  a  merciless  Reality 
before  whom  ghosts  and  empty  survivals  shrank 
into  nothingness. 

And  yet  our  last  word  on  Venice  shall  not  be 
of  failure,  decrepitude,  death.  We  will  rejoice, 
rather,  in  her  transcendent  achievements  :  her  forti- 
tude and  skill  in  building  her  home  where  only  sea 
birds  had  nested ;  her  enterprise  in  commerce ;  her 
civilizing  work  in  linking  East  and  West;  her 
tolerance  and  steadfastness ;  her  justice  in  advance 
of  her  epoch ;  her  solicitude  for  the  well-being  of 
all  her  children,  repaid  by  a  devotion  which  the 
sons  of  no  other  country  have  surpassed ;  her  long 
example  of  splendid  dignity;  her  mighty  strokes 
for  human  freedom ;  her  defense  of  Western  Europe 
against  the  Turk ;  her  most  modern  separation  of 
the  Church  from  the  State ;  her  joyousness ;  her  art ! 
And  I  cannot  forget  that  though  the  Venetians  of 
1797  let  themselves  be  passed  like  chattels  from 
one  foreigner  to  another,  their  descendants  fifty 
years  later  redeemed  the  ancient  fame  of  Venice 
for  bravery,  and  added  a  page  to  the  world's  chroni- 
cles of  heroism. 


CHAPTER  XV 
EPILOGUE 

Although  Venice  was  creation  of  one  of  the 
most  practical  race  of  men  the  world  has  seen, — 
of  men  who  as  merchants  and  empire-builders  rank 
with  the  English ;  of  men  who  for  enterprise  and 
for  blending  genuine  piety  with  business  shrewd- 
ness resemble  the  Yankees  of  earlier  days;  of 
men  who  devised  a  masculine  form  of  government 
in  which  reason  controlled  every  joint,  leaving  no 
play  to  emotion,  —  yet  we  think  of  her  as  femi- 
nine, and  the  fascination  which  she  has  exerted 
above  all  other  cities  is  truly  a  woman's  fasci- 
nation. At  Venice,  the  dull  become  poetic,  the 
commonplace  kindle  with  romance.  The  genera- 
tions of  grave,  resolute,  far-seeing  men  are  forgotten ; 
the  splendor,  the  charm,  the  glory,  the  ineffable 
grace,  remain.  Strangers  ask  eagerly  not  about 
Dandolo  and  Pisani,  or  Sarpi  and  Morosini,  but 
about  the  legends  and  the  pageants;  for  it  seems 
as  improbable  that  the  humdrum  concerns  of  trade 
and  administration,  or  even  the  weighty  business 
of  war  and  statecraft,  could  have  been  carried  on 
in  this  magic  city  as  in  Fairyland  itself. 

We  have  heard  the  history ;  let  us,  before  part- 
ing, look  for  a  moment  at  the  pageant. 
318 


CHAP.  XV  EPILOGUE  319 

In  1268,  when  medieval  Venice  was  in  full 
flower,  Lorenzo  Tiepolo  was  elected  doge,  and  it 
happens  that  a  keen-eyed,  color-loving  spectator, 
Martin  da  Canale,  saw  and  chronicled  the  spectacle 
which  followed. 

When  the  forty-one  electors  had  reached  an 
agreement,  the  bells  of  St.  Mark's  were  rung,  and 
from  all  parts  of  the  city  the  people  of  Venice 
flocked  to  the  Piazza  and  the  Church.  The  elec- 
tors mounted  the  balcony  of  the  Church,  and  one 
of  them  addressed  the  multitude  and  announced 
the  name  of  the  new  Doge.  Thereupon  they 
pressed  round  him  and  bore  him  to  the  altar  of  St. 
Mark,  and  having  stripped  his  clothes  from  him 
and  put  on  his  ducal  robes,  at  that  altar  he  took 
the  oath  of  office,  and  the  gonfalon  of  St.  Mark,  all 
gold,  was  given  to  him  and  he  received  it.  Amid 
great  rejoicing  he  went  out  of  the  Church  and 
ascended  the  staircase  of  the  Ducal  Palace.  The 
chaplains  stood  on  the  steps  and  sang  the  ducal 
lauds  in  these  words  :  "  Christ  conquers  !  Christ 
reigns  !  Christ  commands  !  To  our  lord,  Lorenzo 
Tiepolo,  by  God's  grace  illustrious  Doge  of  Venice, 
Dalmatia,  and  Croatia,  and  ruler  of  a  fourth  part 
and  a  half  of  the  whole  empire  of  Eoraania,  salva- 
tion, honor,  long  life,  and  victory  !  St.  Mark,  help 
thou  him!"  Then  the  Doge  went  into  the  Pal- 
ace and  entered  on  his  office,  subscribing  to  a 
formal  oath ;  after  which  he  appeared  at  a  loggia 
and  spoke  very  wisely  to  the  people,  and  they 
praised  him  above  all  others.     The  chaplains  then 


.320  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

repaired  to  Sant'  Agostino,  where  the  Dogaressa 
dwelt,  and  sang  before  her  also  the  ducal  lauds. 

This  informal  celebration  was  ushered  in  by 
elaborate  festivities,  in  which  all  classes  engaged. 
On  land  there  was  a  procession  of  the  guilds,  those 
groups  of  tradesmen,  artisans,  and  apprentices  that 
had  existed  in  Venice  from  very  early  times,  had 
grown  rich  and  skillful,  and  had  organized  each  its 
internal  government.  On  this  24th  of  July,  1268, 
they  put  on  their  richest  attire — each  guild  hav- 
ing its  distinctive  livery  —  and  took  their  places  in 
the  great  parade  which  wound  through  the  narrow 
streets  to  the  Piazza  and  the  Palace. 

First  come  the  master  smiths  and  their  appren- 
tices with  a  gonfalon  and  with  their  heads  gar- 
landed, while  trumpeters  play  before  them ;  next, 
the  furriers,  wearing  rich  mantles  of  ermine  and 
vair  and  other  rare  furs.  They  are  followed  by  the 
dressers  of  small  skins,  clothed  in  samite  and  taffeta 
and  in  scarlet;  the  dressers  of  lambskins  march 
next,  singing  canzonets  to  the  Doge ;  after  them, 
the  weavers,  singing  songs  and  snatches.  And 
now,  says  Da  Canale,  ^-  the  joy  and  the  festivity 
begin  to  increase,"  for  the  tailors  appear,  their  ten 
masters  dressed  in  white  with  vermilion  stars, 
their  coats  and  mantles  lined  with  furs,  and  all 
merrily  singing.  The  next,  crowned  with  olive 
and  bearing  olive-branches,  are  the  woolen  manu- 
facturers, and  after  them  the  makers  of  cotton 
cloth,  in  fustian.  The  makers  of  quilts  and  jerkins 
have  new  suits,  each  with  a  white   cloak  worked 


XV  EPILOGUE  321 

with  fleur-de-lis,  and  each  cloak  with  a  hood,  and 
the  men  themselves  wear  garlands  of  pearls  strung 
with  gold.  The  pageant  grows  more  splendid,  for 
here  are  the  cloth-of-gold  workers,  sumptuous  in 
that  fabric  themselves,  and  their  workmen  in  pur- 
ple, with  hoods  of  gold,  worked  and  decorated  with 
pearls  and  gold,  on  their  heads.  The  cordwainers 
who  follow  are  equally  resplendent,  and  so  are  the 
mercers.  Nor  will  the  cheesemongers  be  outshone, 
in  their  scarlet  and  purple  costume,  trimmed  with 
fur,  and  their  gold  and  pearl  ornaments.  The 
sellers  of  wild  fowl  and  the  fishmongers  come  in 
vair,  bearing  fine  game  and  fish  as  an  offering  to 
the  Doge.  And  after  them  we  see  the  company 
of  the  barbers,  two  of  whom,  clad  in  armor  and 
mounted  on  richly  caparisoned  horses,  dub  them- 
selves knights-errant  and  lead  captive  four  damsels, 
strangely  garbed.  Accompanied  by  their  guild, 
they  ride  up  the  Palace  steps  into  the  presence  of 
the  Doge,  and  after  salutation  they  announce  that  if 
any  of  his  court  wish  to  do  battle  for  the  damsels, 
they  are  ready  to  defend  them.  But  the  Doge  bids 
them  welcome,  assuring  them  that  no  one  shall 
dispute  their  prize;  and  so  their  little  comedy  ends. 
They  have  scarcely  passed  on  ere  the  glassworkers 
advance,  bearing  decanters  and  bottles  and  other 
rarest  specimens  of  their  skill.  The  comb  makers, 
a  merry  crew,  bring  a  great  cage  filled  with  divers 
birds,  and  when  they  open  the  door  the  birds  fly 
out  and  away  over  the  heads  of  the  multitude,  to 
the  delight  of   the  little  children,  who  run  after 


322  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

them.  Other  guilds  loom  up  in  the  distance;  but 
our  chronicler  mentions  only  the  goldsmiths,  the 
most  magnificent  of  all.  The  masters  of  this 
guild  display  very  rich  clothes,  and  gold  and  silver 
ornaments,  and  jewels  of  great  price,  —  "sapphires, 
emeralds,  diamonds,  topazes,  jacinths,  amethysts, 
rubies,  jaspers,  carbuncles."  The  wealth  of  Ormuz 
and  of  Ind  sparkles  as  they  file  before  us  in  the 
summer  sun. 

Each  company  is  preceded  by  trumpeters  sound- 
ing on  silver  trumpets  and  by  men  playing  eymbals ; 
servants  carry  large  silver  vials  of  wine  and  golden 
goblets;  and  there  are  captains  who  see  that  the 
lines  form  promptly  and  march  in  order,  two  by 
two.  And  after  each  guild  has  greeted  the  Doge, 
wishing  him  long  life,  victory,  honor,  and  salvation, 
it  descends  the  Ducal  Staircase  and  goes  to  the  palace 
in  the  Sant'  Agostino  quarter  to  salute  the  Dogaressa. 

But  pageants  address  the  eye  and  not  the  ear. 
Feeble  are  words  to  conjure  up  such  a  scene  as  this, 
so  varied,  so  gorgeous,  so  jocund,  yet  so  stately  ! 
Descriptions  cloy.  Happily  whoever  has  visited 
Venice  has  fed  his  eye  on  the  paintings  where 
these  things  still  glow. 

And  yet,  although  descriptions  pale,  we  must  take 
one  glimpse  of  that  Venetian  festival  which  out- 
dazzled  and  outlasted  all  the  rest  —  the  3'"early 
wedding  of  the  Republic  and  the  Adriatic,  which 
commemorated  the  victorious  naval  expedition 
when  Orseolo  the  Great  cleared  the  Dalmatian 
coast  of  pirates  and  established  the  supremacy  of 


XV  EPILOGUE  323 

Venice  on  tlie  sea.  To  mark  that  triumph,  the 
Doge  and  his  retinue  went  in  procession  through 
the  Lido  port  to  the  open  Adriatic,  and  offered  this 
supplication,  "  Grant,  0  Lord,  that  for  us,  and  for 
all  who  sail  thereon,  the  sea  may  be  calm  and  quiet ; 
this  is  our  prayer,  Lord,  hear  us."  After  this  the 
Doge  and  his  suite  were  sprinkled,  and  the  rest  of 
the  holy  water  was  poured  into  the  sea,  while  the 
priests  chanted  the  words,  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop, 
and  I  shall  be  clean." 

This  ceremony,  impressive  for  its  simplicitj^,  grew 
to  be  impressive  for  its  splendor.  In  1177,  when 
Pope  Alexander  III  and  the  Emperor  Barbarossa 
met  at  Venice  to  settle,  as  they  hoped,  the  imme- 
morial quarrel  of  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire,  they 
took  part  in  this  celebration;  and  then  it  was, 
apparently,  that  the  service  was  converted  into  an 
espousal.  The  Pope  gave  Doge  Ziani  an  anointed, 
ring,  which  he  dropped  solemnly  into  the  Adriatic 
with  the  words,  ^' Desponsamus  te,  Mare"  (",We 
wed  thee,  0  Sea,  in  sign  of  our  true  and  perpetual 
dominion  "). 

From  that  time  on  the  celebration  of  "  La  Sensa," 
or  the  Marriage  of  the  Adriatic  on  Ascension  Day, 
increased  in  stateliness,  and  long  after  Venice  had 
lost  the  sceptre  of  the  sea  crowds  of  visitors  jour- 
neyed yearly  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  wit- 
ness that  rite,  symbolic  of  her  former  supremacy. 
Travelers  and  authors  have  vied  with  each  other 
in  depicting  that  dazzling  spectacle:  The  Bucen- 
taur,  the  ducal  galley,  all  gilded,  with  its  canopy  of 


324  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

crimson  velvet;  the  gold  and  crimson  gonfalon  of 
St.  Mark  ;  the  forty  long  oars,  each  manned  by  four 
rowers;  the  ducal  throne  fixed  on  a  great  golden 
shell ;  the  Doge  himself,  venerable  and  grave,  clad 
in  superb  robes;  the  Councilors,  the  Procurators, 
the  Senators,  the  Sages,  the  Avogadors,  in  crimson 
or  black ;  the  Patriarch  and  his  prelates  wearing 
their  richest  vestments;  the  foreign  ambassadors 
in ,  their  varied  gala  apparel ;  the  multitudes  of 
smaller  galleys,  barges,  barks,  and  gondolas,  follow- 
ing in  the  wake  of  the  Bucentaur,  each  with  its 
cargo  of  eager  men  and  women;  the  unwonted 
stillness  of  the  journey  out;  the  solemnity  of  the 
marriage  rite,  when  the  Doge,  unattended,  from  the 
stern  of  his  barge  drops  the  ring  into  the  sea ;  then 
the  sudden  taking  up  by  ten  thousand  throats  of 
his  words,  "  Desponsamus  te,  Mare  "  ;  the  boundless 
vivacity,  the  acclamations,  the  triumphal  energy, 
of  the  return  to  the  city  —  who  has  not  in  imagina- 
tion beheld  all  this,  framed  by  the  matchless  Vene- 
tian architecture  and  the  opaline  waters  of  the 
Lagoon,  and  the  sky  of  pale  sapphire  and  sunbeams 
which  arches  above  them  ? 

Dead,  long  ago,  the  last  Doge  of  Venice ;  dead 
the  gay  throngs  which  last  attended  him ;  the  gol- 
den Bucentaur  is  dust ;  the  Ducal  Palace,  St.  Mark's 
Church,  nay,  Venice  herself,  are  become  but  a  three 
days'  wonder  for  modern  tourists,  who  "nod,  and 
peer,  and  hurry  on,"  a  gallery  for  the  aesthetic,  a 
musing-haunt  for  the  thoughtful  few.  So  fades 
away  the  glory  of  the  world! 


XV  EPILOGUE  325 

"  And  what,"  asks  the  muser,  before  whom  the 
vision  of  this  splendor  has  floated,  "  what  does  it 
signify  ?  Is  it  but  the  pomp,  the  unrivaled  pomp, 
and  the  vanity  of  a  wicked  world  ?  The  colors  have 
fed  the  eye,  the  pageants  have  bewitched  the  imagi- 
nation —  is  that  all  ?  "  Ah,  no !  Through  those 
fleeting  shows  Venice  embodied  qualities  which  no 
other  state  has  had  in  like  degree :  she  taught  the 
world  the  meaning  of  magnificence ;  she  set  it  an 
example  in  dignity.  We  have  heard  much  of  the 
ceremonial  of  Spain,  —  but  ceremonial  is  not  mag- 
nificence; the  mere  description  of  the  gorgeous 
costumes  of  the  Magyar  nobles  dazzles  us,  —  but 
costume  is  not  magnificence.  Ceremonial  may  be 
dull  —  the  Spanish  punctilio  was  stiff  beyond  the 
verge  of  the  ludicrous;  that  is  not  dignity.  We 
cannot  associate  magnificence  with  either  the  Ger- 
man or  the  Englishman  or  the  American.  The 
Prussian,  at  the  utmost,  can  organize  an  imposing 
military  review.  The  English  have  never  had  the 
artistic  sense,  nor  the  taste,  which  underlies  magnifi- 
cence ;  they  have  ever  taken  their  pleasures  sadly  ; 
and  while  Englishmen  may  possess  a  noble  carriage 
and  countenances  of  high-bred  dignity,  they  do  not 
group  well,  but  remain  rigidly  isolated,  too  conscious 
of  themselves  to  be  willing  to  blend  in  masses,  which 
are  the  elements  of  a  great  pageant.  Americans 
have  all  the  English  defects,  and  too  often  they 
lack  even  the  English  dignity.  The  French,  too, 
have  had  little  conception  of  magnificence  —  as- 
suredly they  have  manifested  no  genius   for  it. 


326  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

They  still  point  to  the  Grand  Monarque  —  that 
paltry  manikin,  with  his  full-bottomed  wig,  padded 
calves,  and  red-heeled  pumps,  and  to  his  entourage 
of  titled  lackeys  —  as  their  highest  type  of  dignity 
and  magnificence ;  or  they  recall  the  display  of  the 
Third  Napoleon,  which  was,  after  all,  only  tinsel 
and  millinery,  the  stuff  which  theatrical  pomps, 
performed  mechanically  after  much  drill,  are  made 
of. 

But  the  Venetians  were  magnificent  by  nature. 
This  quality  developed  in  them  just  as  a  genius  for 
music  develops  in  other  races,  and  it  expressed 
itself  in  pageants  more  and  more  splendid  as  their 
wealth  increased.  A  dignity,  likewise  inborn,  never 
forsook  them.  The  spirit  of  Beauty,  which  was 
their  peculiar  dower,  took  great  companies  of  men 
and  women  and  composed  them  into  moving  pic- 
tures, as  wonderful  in  their  way  as  are  the  endur- 
ing masterpieces  which  that  same  spirit  wrought  on 
canvas,  in  mosaic,  and  in  marble.  Every  class  —  the 
noble,  the  religious,  the  commercial,  the  artisan, 
the  plebeian  —  had  its  place  in  the  festivals,  and  at 
the  head  of  them  all,  linked  to  all  in  this  manifesta- 
tion of  common  interests,  was  the  Doge. 

That  Beauty  may  be  not  merely  the  ornament 
but  the  very  body  of  Power,  this  surely  is  one 
thing  Venice  can  teach  us.  We  moderns  command 
inexhaustible  reservoirs  of  Power ;  but  of  visible 
Beauty,  how  slight  is  our  understanding,  how  beg- 
garly our  product !  We  look  out,  for  the  most  part, 
on   a    sepia-tinted   world;    Venice    bids  us   learn 


XV  EPILOGUE  327 

the  delight,  not  merely  physical,  which  color  can 
bring.  To  be  gorgeous,  but  not  barbaric ;  magnifi- 
cent, but  not  pompous ;  dignified,  but  not  stiff  — 
these  are  gifts  which  presuppose  character;  nay, 
they  demand  character  in  some  respects  of  rarer 
fibre  than  that  in  which  reside  many  of  the  virtues 
which  we  magnify.  Those  gifts  the  Venetians  had. 
Venice  proclaimed  the  joy  of  life,  —  the  glow  of 
health,  the  exhilaration  of  conquest,  the  sweetness 
of  prosperity,  the  confidence  which  comes  with 
mastery.  Was  it  not  well  that  once  in  recorded 
history  one  nation  should  dare  to  proclaim  that  life 
on  earth  is  passing  good  ?  There  is  no  danger  that 
races  or  men  will  be  long  allowed  to  forget  the 
transitoriness  of  the  human  lot,  or  its  horrors  and 
failures  and  bereavements.  Fate  sees  to  it  that 
each  generation  shall  witness,  for  a  warning  and  a 
sign,  the  collapse  of  empire.  Time  is  busy  "  turn- 
ing old  glories  into  dreams." 

"  Restless  is  wealth,  the  nerves  of  power 
Sink  like  a  lute's  in  rain, 
The  gods  lend  only  for  an  hour, 
And  then  take  back  again." 

But  to  transmute  wealth  and  power  into  joy,  to 
live  grandly,  as  if  the  gods  had  not  merely  lent  for 
an  hour,  but  had  given  for  eternity,  bespeaks  great 
character.  Joy  is  so  much  rarer  than  virtue;  so 
very  rare  among  the  powerful  and  the  very  rich ! 

Remember,  too,  that  the  Venetians  earned  their 
prosperity,   earned  it  against    unparalleled  odds; 


328  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE  chap. 

they  were  brave,  industrious,  enterprising,  prudent ; 
when  blessings  flowed  in  upon  them,  they  rejoiced 
with  a  healthy  exuberance.  "There  is  nothing 
better  for  a  man  than  .  .  .  that  he  should  make 
his  soul  enjoy  good  in  his  labor.  This  also  I  saw, 
that  it  was  from  the  hand  of  God."  The  Venetians 
realized  that  after  a  hard-won  victory  the  triumph 
is  legitimate ;  that  God  can  be  worshiped  as  truly 
by  accepting  his  gifts  and  delighting  in  them  as  by 
renouncing  them.  No  doubt  prosperity  is  the 
severest  test  of  character,  as  Venice  learned  when 
after  many  centuries  her  magnificence  had  been 
softened  into  luxury  and  voluptuousness,  and  her 
pageants,  though  still  superb,  were  shows  to  grat- 
ify her  pride  rather  than  ceremonies  born  of  her 
strength  and  joy.  Nevertheless,  five  hundred  years 
elapsed  between  her  rise  to  greatness  and  the 
beginning  of  her  decline,  and  her  waning  was  so 
gradual  that  for  two  centuries  more  she  seemed 
in  outward  majesty  almostundiminished. 

Throughout  her  career,  she  inspired  in  her  sons 
such  devotion  as  passes  the  patriotism  of  most 
peoples.  They  revered  her  as  Queen,  they  loved 
her  as  Mother.  Although  an  exclusive  oligarchy 
ruled  the  state,  yet  every  Venetian  felt  that  Venice 
belonged  to  him.  St.  Mark  was  the  patron  equally 
of  doge  and  dustman.  The  legend  which  all  be- 
lieved, the  pageants  in  which  even  the  humblest  had 
his  place,  sprang  out  of  the  heart  of  the  whole  people, 
and  symbolized  the  unity  which  bound  all  together. 
And  life  in  Venice,  mere  physical  life,  was  pleasant 


XV       ~  EPILOGUE  329 

to  a  larger  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  and  during 
more  generations  than  it  has  been  in  any  other 
city.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  when  Tintoret,  the 
greatest  of  her  painters,  in  so  many  respects  the 
greatest  of  all  painters,  was  commissioned  to  deco- 
rate the  vast  wall  of  the  Hall  of  the  Great  Council, 
wishing  to  express  the  feeling  of  every  Venetian 
toward  his  incomparable  city,  he  chose  for  his 
subject  Paradise. 


CHRONOLOGY  AND  LIST  OF  DOGES 

(The  names  of  the  Doges  are  printed  in  heavy  type.) 


Venetian  History 

General 

421 

Legendary  founding  of 
Venice 

452 

Attila's    invasion ;    La- 
goon peopled 

466 

Tribunes       elected     at 

Grado 

476. 

Fall  of  Western  Empire. 

522 

Cassiodorus  at  Venice? 

Odoacer,      King 

568 

Torcello  founded 

of  Italy 

584 

Longinus     at     Venice ; 

general            tribunes 

493. 

Theodoric.     Ostrogothic 

elected 

Kingdom 

697 

Paoluccio  Anafesto,  first 

530-64.   Justinian,       Eastern 

doge 

Emperor 

709 

Founding     of     Jesolo ; 

568. 

Alboin.    Lombard  King- 

commercial       treaty 

dom 

with  Luitprand 

622. 

Hegira  of  Mahomet 

717 

Marcello  Tegalliano 

726 

Orso,  "  Hypatos" 

732. 

Patriarchates  of   Grado 

737-42 

Mastri  militum 

and        Aquileia 

742 

Deodato,     "  Hypatos  "  ; 
Malamocco  capital 

separated 

755 

Galla  Gaulo 

756 

Domenico  Monegario 

772-814.   Charlemagne 

764 

Maurizio  Galbaio 

787 

Giovanni  Galbaio.  Prank- 

ish party 

800. 

Charlemagne      crowned 

803 

Venice  declared  part  of 

Emperor          at 

Eastern     Empire    by 

Rome 

treaty  of  Charlemagne 

and  Nicephorus 

331 


332 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Venktian  History 

Gbnkral 

804 

Obelerio  Antenorio.    Je- 
solo     destroyed      by 
Heracleaus.     Obelerio 
destroys  Heraclea 

809 

War  of    Pepin  against 
Venice 

810 

Pepin  driven  back 
Rialto  becomes  the  cap- 
ital 

811 

Agnello       Partecipazio. 
First  Dncal  Palace 

827 

Giustiniano  Partecipazio 

828 

St.  Mark's  body  brought 
to  Venice ;  Church  be- 
gun 

829 

Giovanni  Partecipazio  I 

83G 

Pietro  Tradonico.    War 
with  Saracens 

840 

Diploma  of  Loth  air 

8G4 

Orso  Partecipazio  I 

881 

Giovanni  Partecipazio  II 

871-901. 

Alfred  the  Great 

887 

Pietro  Candiano  I.    De- 
feat by  pirates 

888 

Pietro  Tribuno 

900 

Lagoons  fortified ;  Mag- 

912-61. 

Abderrahman  III, 

yar  invasion 

Caliph  of  Cordova 

912 

Orso  Partecipazio  II 

932 

Pietro  Candiano  II.  Ven- 
ice invades  Istria 

939 

Pietro  Partecipazio 

<>42 

Pietro  Candiano  HI 

'     944 

Narentine    pirates     de- 
feated 

959 

Pietro  Candiano  IV 

971 

Eastern  Emperor  threat- 
ens 

976 

Doge  killed  ;  Ducal  Pal- 
ace burnt 
Pietro  Orseolo  I 

978 

Vitale  Candiano 

979 

Tribuno  Memmo 

CHRONOLOGY  AND  LIST  OF  DOGES 


333 


Venetian  History 

General 

991 

Pietro    Orseolo    II,    the 
Great.    Treaties  with 
East  and  West 

998 

Pirates  conquered.  Doge 
Duke  of  Dalmatia 

999 

First  Sposalizio  del  Mar. 
Emperor    Otto    visits 
Venice 

1002 

Saracens  beaten  at  Bari 

1008 

Otto  Orseolo 

102(5 

Pietro  Centranico 

1032 

Domenico  Flabianico 

1043 

Domenico  Contarini 

1066.  Battle  of  Hastings,  Nor- 

1071 

Domenico  Selvo 

man  Conquest  of 

1075 

Normans  attack  Dalma- 

England 

tia 

1072.  Normans  conquer  Sicily 

1082 

Normans   defeat  Vene- 

tians at  Casopo 

1073-85.   Gregory  VII,  Hilde- 

1084 

Vitale  Falier.   Normans 
beaten  at  Corfu.    Ve- 
netian rights  at  Con- 
stantinople confirmed 

brand,  pope 

by    Golden    Bull    of 

1095-99.  First  Crusade 

Alexis 

1096 

Vitale  Michiel  I.    Expe- 
dition to  Levant 

- 

1102 

Ordelaffo  Falier 

1118 

Domenico      Michiel. 
Leads    expedition    to 
the  East 

1128 

Capture  of  Tyre 

1130 

Pietro  Polani 

1142 

War  with  Padua 

1148 

Domenico  Morosini.  War 
with  pirates 

1147.   Second  Crusade 

1156 

Vitale  Michiel  II 

1166 

Zara  rebels 

1171 

Emperor     Manuel    op- 
presses    Venetians 
in    Eastern    Empire. 
First      public      loan. 

334 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Venetian  History 

General 

Venice  retaliates  and 

1176.   Battle      of      Legnano; 

is   beaten.      Election 

Lombard  League 

by  sestieri.    Origin  of 

defeats     Barba- 

Great Council 

rossa 

1172 

Sebastian©  Ziani 

1170-1221.   St.  Dominic,  Span- 

1177 

Pope  Alexander  III  and 

iard 

Barbarossa  at  Venice 

1182-1226.   St.  Francis  of  As- 

1178 

Orio  Malipiero 

sisi 

1189 

Forty  created 

1189.   Third  Crusade 

1192 

Enrico  Dandolo.      First 

1194-1250.   Frederick     II     of 

ducal  promission 

Sicily 

1201 

Contract     for     Fourth 

1198-1216.   Innocent  III,  pope 

Crusade 

1201-04.  Fourth  Crusade 

1202 

Expedition  sails.    Zara 
recaptured 

1204 

Constantinople     taken. 

pire  established 

1205 

Pietro  Ziani 

1211 

Crete  colonized 

1215.  King  John  signs  Magna 

1221 

Proposed     removal     to 
Constantinople 

Charta 

1229 

Jacopo  Tiepolo.     Vene- 
tian laws  codified 

1225-74.  Thomas    Aquinas 

1230 

Crete  revolts 

1240 

Siege  of  Ferrara 

1249 

Marino  Morosini 

1253 

Raniero  Zeno 

1253 

Quarrel  with  Genoa  at 
Acre 

1258 

Venetians  defeat  Geno- 

ese near  Acre 

1259.  Ezzelino    da    Romano, 

I'm 

Genoese  beaten  at  Tra- 

lord    of    Padua, 

pani.       Treaty     with 

dies 

Emperor  Paleologos 

1261.  Greeks     recover     Con- 

1268 

Lorenzo  Tiepolo.    Rules 

stantinople 

for  ducal  election 

1256-1323.   Marco  Polo 

1275 

Jacopo  Contarini.     War 

1265-1321.  Dante 

with  Ancona 

1276-1337.  Giotto 

1280 

Giovanni  Dandolo 

1284 

First  gold  ducat 

CHRONOLOGY  AND  LIST  OF  DOGES 


335 


Venetian  History 

General 

1285 

Venice  under  interdict. 
Mint  established 

1289 

Pietro  Gradenigo.    War 
with  Genoa 

1304-74.  Petrarch 

1294 

Venetians  defeated   by 
Genoese  at  Ayas 

1313-75.  Boccaccio 

1297 

Closing  of  Great  Coun- 
cil.    Oligarchy  rules 
openly 

1298 

Venetians  defeated   by 
Genoese  at  Curzola 

1299 

Peace  with  Genoa 

1300 

Bocconio's  conspiracy 

1308 

War  over  Ferrara ;  sec- 
ond interdict 

1310 

Conspiracy  of  Bajamonte 
Tiepolo.      Council  of 
Ten  appointed 

1311 

Marin  Zorzi.     Zara  re- 
volts 

1312 

Giovanni  Soranzo.    War 
with  Zara 

1329 

Francesco  Dandolo.  First 
sumptuary  laws 

1332 

First  war  with  Turks 

1335 

Council  of  Ten  declared 
permanent 

1336 

War  with  Delia  Scala 

1339 

Bartolomeo  Gradenigo. 
By  peace,  Venice  gets 
Treviso  and  Bassano 

1343 

Andrea  Dandolo 

1346 

Quarrel  with  Genoa  over 
Crimean  trade 

1348 

Black  Death 

1350 

War  with  Genoa.    Geno- 
ese victory  at  Negro- 
pont 

Battle  of  the  Bosphorus. 

1353 

1353.  Genoa  cedes  herself  to 

Venetian    victory    at 

Viscouti 

Lojera 

336 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Venetian  History 

General 

1354 

Marino  Faliero.     Vene- 
tians    defeated      at 
Sapienza 

1355 

Conspiracy  and  death  of 
Faliero 

1355 

Giovanni         Gradenigo. 
Peace     with     Genoa. 
War  with  Hungary 

1356 

Giovanni   Dolfin.      Loss 
of  Dahnatia 

1361 

Lorenzo  Celsi 

1364 

Cretan  revolt  crushed 

1365 

Marco  Comaro.  Southern 
facade  of  Ducal  Palace 

1368 

Andrea  Contarini.  Tries- 
tine  revolt  quelled 

1369 

War  with  the  Carraresi 

1373 

Peace ;      Venice     gains 
Feltre 

1377 

Quarrel     with     Genoa 
over  Cyprus.    Venice 
gets   Tenedos.      War 
with  Genoa 

1379 

Venetians    defeated    at 
Pola ;    Venice    block- 
aded.    Vettor   Pisani 
blockades  Genoese  at 
Chioggia 

1380 

Genoese  surrender 

1381 

Peace  of  Turin 

1382 

Michele  Morosini 

1382 

Antonio  Venier 

1388 

Argos  and  Nauplia  ac- 
quired.   War  against 
Carraresi 

1400 

Michele  Steno 

1404 

War  against  Carraresi 

1405 

Venice  wins 

1406 

Expansion     on     Terra 

1402.  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti 

Firma 

dies 

1411 

War  with  Sigismund 

CHRONOLOGY  AND  LIST  OF  DOGES 


337 


Venetian  History 

General 

1414 

Tommaso  Mocenigo 

1416 

Battle      of      Gallipoli ; 
treaty  with  Sultan 

1418 

War  with  Sigismund 

1420 

Friuli  acquired 

1423 

Francesco  Foscari.    Peo- 
ple have  no   part  in 
election  of  doge 

Hall  of  Great  Council 

1424 

Venice    joins    Florence 
against  Visconti 

1425 

Carmagnola    appointed 
general 

1420 

Brescia  acquired 

1427 

Battle  of  Maclodio 

1428 

Peace;   Venice  acquires 
Bergamo 

1432 

Carmagnola    tried    and 
executed 

1437 

Venice  granted  investi- 

1447. Death  of  Filippo  Maria 

ture  by  Emperor 

Visconti 

1438 

Gattamelata,     general ; 
fleet  on  Lake  Garda 

1441 

Peace  with  Visconti 

1448 

CoUeoni 

1449-92.  Lorenzo  de'  Medici 

1453 

Turks    take   Constanti- 
nople 

1454 

Peace  of  Lodi  with  Milan 

1450-66.  Francesco     Sforza, 

1457 

Foscari  deposed 

Duke  of  Milan 

1457 

Pasquale  Malipiero 

1462 

Cristoforo  Moro 

14(54 

War  with  Turks 

1470 

Turks  take  Negropont 

1471 

Niccolo  Tron 

1473 

NiccoldMarcello.    Turks 
in  Friuli 

1474 

Pietro  Mocenigo 

1470 

Andrea          Vendramin. 
Turks  in  Friuli 

1478 

Giovanni          Mocenigo. 

First  stone  bridge 

338 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Venetian  History 

General 

1479 

Peace  with  Turks 

1483 

War  with  Ferrara ;  third 
interdict 

1484 

Peace;    Venice  secures 
Rovi^o  and  Polesine 

1485 

Marco  Barbarigo 

1486 

Agostino  Barbarigo 

um. 

Dias    rounds    Cape    of 

1488 

Venice     takes     Cyprus 

Good  Hope 

from  Caterina  Cornaro 

1492. 

Columbus         discovers 

1495 

Venice     joins      league 

America.   Moors 

against  Charles  VIII ; 

in     Spain     con- 

French beaten  at  For- 

quered  by  Span- 

uovo 

iards 

1498 

Venice  ally  of  Louis  XII. 

1492-1503.  Alexander  VI,  Bor- 

War  with  Turkey 

gia,  pope 

1499 

Turks      victorious     at 

1493-1593.   Maximilian  I,  em- 

Sapienza.    Venice  ac- 

peror 

quires  Cremona 

1497. 

Vasco  da  Gama  reaches 

1501 

Leonardo  Loredano 

India 

1503 

Peace  with  Turks.  Ven- 

1498-1515. Louis  XII,  King  of 

ice      encroaches      in 

France 

Romagna 

1503-13.  Julius  II,  Delia  Ro- 

1504 

Pope    organizes  league 
against  Venice 

vere,  pope 

1507 

War  with  Maximilian 

1508 

League      of     Cambrai 

1509 

Defeat    at    Agnadello  ; 
fourth           interdict ; 
mainland  lost 

1510 

Venice     makes     peace 
with  pope 

Y.     1511 

Death  of  Giorgione 

1512. 

Battle  of  Ravenna 

1512 

Mainland      possessions 

1513-21.  Leo  X,  Medici,  pope 

voluntarily  return  to 

Venice 

1513 

French    army   at    Mal- 

1515-47.   Francis    I,   King   of 

ghera.  Treaty  of  Blois 

France 

1515 

Venetians  assist  French 

1516. 

Death    of     Ferdinand, 

at  battle  of  Marignano 

King  of  Spain 

1518 

Truce  with  Emperor 

1521 

Antonio  Grimani 

1519-56.  Charles  V,  emperor 

CHRONOLOGY  AND  LIST  OF  DOGES 


339 


Venetian  History 

General 

1523 

Andrea    Gritti.    Treaty 

1525. 

Battle  of  Pa  via;  Fran- 

with Charles  V 

cis  I  defeated 

1529 

Peace  of  Bologna 

1526. 

Holy  League 

1536 

Third     Turkish     War. 
Veuice   loses    islands 
in  Levant 

1538 

Alliance  of  Venice,  Pope 
and  Emperor  against 
Turks 

1539 

Pietro  Lando.     Council 
of  Three  created 

1540 

Peace  with  Turks ;  Ven- 

1540. 

Pope  sanctions  Loyola's 

ice  loses  Nauplia 

Order  of  Jesuits 

1545 

Francesco  Donato 

1545-63.   Council  of  Trent 

1553 

Marcantonio  Trevisano 

1554 

Francesco  Venier 

1556 

Lorenzo  Priuli.     Uscoc- 

1556-98.   Philip    II,    King    of 

chi  pirates  infest  Dal- 

Spain 

matia 

1559 

Girolamo  Priuli 

1567 

Pietro  Loredano 

1570 

Alvise  Mocenigo  I.    War 
with  Turks 

1571 

Battle       of      Lepanto. 

Famagosta  surrenders 

1559-1603.  Elizabeth,    Queen 

1573 

Peace      with       Turks. 
Venice  cedes  Cyprus 

of  England 

1576 

Plague.    Titian  dies 

1561- 

1626.  Francis  Bacon 

1577 

Sebastian©  Venier.    Du- 

1564-1616. Shakespeare 

cal  Palace  partly  burnt 

1578 

Niccolo  da   Ponte.    Dis- 
pute with  pope 

1582 

Conflict    between    Ten 

1588. 

Destruction  of  Spanish 

and  Great  Council 

Armada 

1585 

Pasquale  Cicogna 

1589-1610.  Henry  IV,  King  of 

1588 

Rialto  Bridge  built 

France 

1594 

Tintoret  dies 

1595 

Marino  Grimani 

1605 

Quarrel  with  pope 

1605. 

Paul  V,  Borghese,  pope 

1606 

Leonardo  Donato.   Inter- 
dict.   Sarpi  appointed 

340 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Venetian  History 

General 

counsel  of  the  Repub- 

lic.   Hostile  religious 

1599-1658.  Cromwell 

orders  expelled 

1607 

Agreement      arranged. 
Attempted  assassina- 
tion of  Sarpi 

1012 

Marcantonio  Memmo 

Kilo 

Giovanni  Bembo 

1618 

Niccol6    Donate.    Span- 

1618-48. Thirty  Years'  War 

ish  conspiracy 

1618 

Antonio  Priuli 

1622 

Foscarini  unjustly  exe- 

1620. 

Pilgrims  land  at  Plym- 

cuted 

outh 

1623 

Francesco        Contarini. 
Death  of  Sarpi 

1625 

Giovanni  Cornaro  I 

1625 

Zeno  arraigns  Council  of 

Ten 
Niccolo  Contarini 

1030 

1631 

Francesco  Erizzo 

1643-1715.  Louis    XIV,   King 

1645 

Beginning      of      Great 
Turliish  War 

of  France 

1646 

Francesco  Molin 

1655 

Carlo  Contarini 

1656 

Francesco           Cornaro. 

Siege  of  Candia  begins 

1556 

Bertucci  Valier 

16.^58 

Giovanni  Pesaro 

1659 

Domenico  Contarini 

1668 

Peace  with  Turlis ;  Ven- 
ice cedes  Crete 

1675 

Niccolo  Sagredo 

1()76 

Luigi  Contarini 

1683. 

Turks    repulsed     from 

1684 

Marcantonio  Giustinian 

Vienna 

Morosini  conquers  Mo- 

1688. 

English  revolution 

rea 

1697. 

Turks  defeated  at  Zenta 

1688 

Francesco         Morosini. 

1699. 

Peace  of  Carlo witz 

Athens  bombarded 

1701-13.  War  of  Spanish  Sue- 

1694 

Silvestro  Valier 

cession 

1700 

Alvise  Mocenigo  II 

1709 

Giovanni  Cornaro  II 

CHRONOLOGY  AND  LIST  OF  DOGES 


341 


Venetian  History 

General 

171G 

Loss  of  the  Morea 

1718.    Peace  of  Passarovitz 

1722 

Alvise  Mocenigo  III 

1732 

Carlo  Ruzzini 

1707-93. 

Carlo  Goldoni 

1735 

Alvise  Pisani 

1741 

Pietro  Grimani 

1752 

Francesco  Loredan 

17(52 

Marco  Foscarini 

1763 

Alvise  Mocenigo  IV 

1775-82. 

American      Revolu- 

1770 

Death  of  G.  B.  Tiepolo 

tion 

1779 

Paolo  Renier.    Reforms 

attempted 

1789-95. 

French  Revolution 

1784 

Emo  hombards  Tunis 

1789 

Lodovico  Manin 

1789-97. 

George  AVashington, 

1797 

May   12.      Government 

first     President 

votes  to   dissolve    at 

of    the    United 

Napoleon's  command. 

States 

By    peace  of    Campo 

Formio       (Oct.       17) 

France  cedes  Venice 

to  Austria 

- 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

**RoMANiN.     Storia  Documentata  di    Venezia.     Venice, 

1853.    10  vols.     Indispensable. 
**  MoLMENTT.    Storia  di  Venezia  nella  Vita  Privata.    First 

ed.     Turin,  1880.  ^ 

**  H.  F.  Brown.      Venice :    An  Historical   Sketch  of  the  V^ 

Bepublic.     London,  1893.     An  excellent  specimen  of 

historical  anatomy. 
Daru.    Storia  della  Bepuhlica  di  Venezia.    Capolago,  1837. 

11   vols.      Italian  translation  with  Ranke's  comment. 

D.  is  anti-Venetian. 
Chroniclks.    I.  Cronache  Veneziane  Antichissime.    Edited 

by  Monticolo.     Rome,  1890. 

II.  Cronaca  detta  Altinate  ;  *  Cronaca  di  M.  da  Ca- 
nale.  Archivio  Storico  Italiano.  Vol.  VIII.  Florence, 
1845. 

III.  *  Chronicon  of  Andrea  Dandolo.  Muratori 
{Berum  Ital.  Scriptor.),  Vol.  XII. 

IV.  Sanudo.    Vitae  Ducum.    Muratori.    Vol.  XXII. 
V.   Ville-Hardouin.  La  Conqueste  de  Constantinople. 

Diaries.     Sanudo,  68  vols. ;  Malipiero  ;  Priuli. 

*  Gfrorer.    Geschichte  Venedigs  bis  zum  Jahre  IO48.    Graz, 

1872. 
Marin.     Storia  Civile  e  Politica  del  Commercio  dei  Vene- 
ziani.     10  vols.    Venice,  1798. 

*  Heyd.    Histoire  du  Commerce  du  Levant  au  Moyen-Age. 

2  vols.     Leipzig,  1885.  / 

*  W.  C.  Hazlitt.     The  Venetian  Bepublic.    2  vols.    1900.  v 

Contains  many  interesting  essays  on  manners,  customs, 

and  institutions. 

343 


344  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 

*  MusATTi.       Ve7iezia  e  le  sue  Conquiste  nel  Medio-Evo. 

Padua,  1881. 

*  MusATTi.     La  Storia  Politica  di  Venezia.     Padua,  1897. 

Valuable  for  its  references  to  rare  works  and  original 

sources. 
WiEL.     Venice  ("Story  of  the  Nations"  series).    London, 

1894. 
MoLMENTi.     La  Dogaressa.    Turin,  1884. 
MoLMENTi.     Studi  e  BicerchL     Turin,  1892, 
F.  C.  Hodgson.     The  Early  Histot-y  of  Venice  (to  1204). 

London,  1901. 
Ykiarte.     Venise.     Paris,  1878. 
Yriarte.    La  Vie  d^un  Patricien  de  Venise.    Paris. 
**  Sakpi.     Opere. 
*BiANCHi  GioviNi.    Biograjia  di  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi.    Zurich, 

1836. 
Fine  Arts.    Vasari's  Lives;  Ridolfi's  Meraviglie  delV  Arte, 

1648 ;  Ruskin's  Stones  of  Venice ;  C.  E.  Norton's  Church 

Building  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  the  works  of  Crowe  and 

Cavalcaselle,  of  Taine,  Morelli,  and  of  Symonds. 
Among  the  Renaissance  historians  of  Venice  were  Paruta, 
Doglioni,  Bembo,  Contarini,  and  Gianotti.  *Sansovino's 
works  —  Del  Governo  de''  Begni  and  Venezia,  Citta  Nobi- 
lissijna  —  are  important  for  their  description  of  the  city  and 
its  institutions  in  the  sixteenth  century.  James  Howell's  A 
Survay  of  the  Signorie  of  Venice,  1651,  gives  a  description 
at  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  may  be  com- 
pared with  De  la  Houssaye,  who  wrote  about  1670.  Trav- 
elers' accounts  throw  many  sidelights  on  Venice  ;  but  even 
a  partial  list,  beginning  with  Petrarch  and  Montaigne,  would 
run  through  many  pages.  In  English,  the  best  sketches  by 
recent  writers  are  W.  D.  Howells's  Venetian  Days  and 
H.  F.  Brown's  Life  on  the  Lagoons. 


INDEX 


Acre,  81,  83. 
Actium,  battle  of,  260. 
Adriatic,  marriage  of,  322-324. 
Agnadello,  battle  of,  204. 
Aix,  treaty  of,  22. 
Alaric,  3. 
Albiola,  21,  32. 
Alboin,  14. 
Alcibiades,  1^7. 
Aldus,  232. 
Aleppo,  89. 

Alexander    III,    pope,    53,   57, 
267,  323. 

IV,  83. 

VI,  193,  201. 

Alexandria,  25,  27. 
Alexis  (Comnenos),  64. 

,  emperor,  89. 

Alimpato,  L.,  25. 

Ali  Pasha,  260. 

Amadeus  VI,  of  Savoy,  157. 

Amalfi,  50. 

America,  50, 197. 

Anafesto,  first  doge,  15,  23,  35. 

Ancona,  190. 

Andros,  72. 

Aquileia,  3, 16,  54,  143, 157. 

Aragon,  89,  139. 

Architecture,  233-237. 

Ardisonio,  N.,  25. 

Ariosto,  231. 

Arpad,  32. 

Arrengo,  13,  40,  41,  97,  174. 

Arsenal,  33,  91,  222. 

Arundel,  Lady,  291. 


Ascalon,  48. 

Ascension    Day   festival,  323- 

324. 
Asolo,  196. 
Athens,  siege  of,  303. 
Attila,  3,  4,  5. 
Austria,  91,  134,  143,  157,  314, 

317. 
Avogadors,  173,  214,  217,  219. 
Ayas,  battle  of,  137. 

Bacon,  Francis,  274. 

Badoer,  ducal  family,  25,  29, 

39,  112. 
Bagdad,  90. 
Bailo,  74,  84,  256,  295. 
Bajazet,  sultan,  183. 
Baldwin  I,  of  Flanders,  69,  71. 

II,  84. 

Banking,  226-227. 
Barbarian  invasion,  3. 
Barbarossa,  Chaireddin,  255. 
Barbary  States,  92. 
Barberini,  cardinal,  287. 
Barnabotti,  30(j,  310. 
Baronio,  cardinal,  276. 
Barozzi,  J.,  72. 
Baseio,  M. ,  admiral,  137. 
Basil,  emperor,  37. 
Bassano,  124,  164. 
Beauty,  spirit  of,  246,  326. 
Bedmar,  marquis  of,  288,  289. 
Belisarius,  10. 
Bellarmine,  cardinal,  274. 
Bell  casting,  93. 


345 


346 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Bellini,  Gentile,  238,  245. 

,  Giovanni,  238-239. 

,  Jacopo,  238. 

Belluno,  37,  164. 
Benedict  XIV,  305. 
Bergamo,  177,  182. 
Black  Sea,  69. 
Blois,  treaty  of,  206. 
Bocconio  conspiracy,  111-112. 
Bologna,  peace  of,  210. 
Bon,  Bartolommeo,  architect, 

235. 
Borborino,  L.,  86. 
Borghese,  Camillo,  see  Paul  V. 
Borromco,  Carlo,  cardinal,  273. 
Bosphorus,  battle  of,  139-140. 
Bragadin,  G.,  informer,  290. 
Bragadino,  Marcantonio,  258- 

259,  262. 
Brescia,  176,  182,  206. 
Brondolo,  21,  32,  152,  315. 
Browning,  Robert,  243. 
Buda,  254. 

Buono  of  Malamocco,  25. 
Byron,  132. 
Byzantium,  see  Constantinople. 

Cabinet,  90. 

Cabot,  197. 

Caesar,  Julius,  3,  20. 

Cairo,  89. 

Calderon,  210. 

Caloprini,  traitor,  34. 

Cambrai,  League  of,  201,  269. 

Campo  Formio,  treaty  of,  316. 

Campofregoso,  doge,  145. 

Canale,  M.  da,  chronicler,  49, 

319-322. 

,  N.  da,  admiral,  191. 

Canaletto,  244. 

Candia,  city  of,  297,  299,  300- 

303. 
,  island,  69,  74,  75,  88,  127, 

137.  295.  304. 


Candiano,  ducal  family,  29,  36, 

39. 
Canea,  captured,  297. 
Cantacuzeuos,  John,  139. 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  rounded, 

197. 
Capo,  d'Anzio,  battle  of,  145. 

,  d'Istria,  129. 

Capua,  Peter  of,  62,  63. 
Carlowitz,  peace  of,  .'304. 
Carmagnola,  175-182. 
Carpaccio,  239. 
Carrara,  tyrants  of  Padua,  123, 

134,  143, 155,  157,  160-164. 
Carthage,  46. 

Cassiodorus, description  of  Ven- 
ice, 9,  10. 
Castelbaldo,  124. 
Cavriana,  peace  of,  182. 
Cephalonia,  battle  near,  43. 
Cerigo,  72. 
Cervantes,  210,  260. 
Champagne,  Thibault  of,  60. 
Charlemagne,  20,  22,  23,  24,  33. 
Charles    V,  emperor,  207,  208. 

210. 

VIII,  of  France,  199. 

China,  iX). 

Chioggia,  21,  32,  147,  149,  151- 

155. 
Chioggian  war,  147-157. 
Christopher,      patriarch        of 

Grado,  14. 
Chronicles,  early,  35. 
Chrysobol,  37. 
Cicisbeo,  312. 

Civilization,  Venetian,  212. 
Clement  V,  pope,  119. 

VIII,  272. 

Closing  of  Great  Council,  102- 

10(3. 
Cognac,  League  of,  208. 
Coinage,  171. 
College,  214. 


INDEX 


347 


Colleoni,  condottiere,  181,  237. 
Colonies,  Venetian,  09,  74,  125, 

105,  21(),  202,  295,  290. 
Colonna,   Marcantonio,    Papal 

admiral,  200. 
Color,  Venetian  painting,  244- 

245. 
Columbns,  197. 
Comacchio,  32. 
Commerce,  23,  27,  30,  37,  38,  85, 

80,  87,  89-92,  94,  90,  137,  108- 

171,  184,  191,  198,  210,255. 
Comnenos,  Alexis,  04. 

,  Isaac,  04. 

Concordat,  208. 

Conspiracies,     Bocconio,     111 ; 

Tiepolo,  112;  Faliero,  130. 
Constantine  Paleologos,  184. 
Constantinople,  10,  27,  34,  35, 

37,  40,  53,  54,  05,  e0-(i8,  75-78 ; 

taken  by  Turks,  183-184. 
Consuls,  91. 
Contarini  family,  102. 

,  Andrea,  doge,  144,  172. 

,  Francesco,  doge,  308,  309. 

,  G.,  reformer,  310. 

Cordova,  30. 

Corfu,  53,  72,  255. 

Corinth,  189. 

Cornaro,  Caterina,  190-197. 

,  Giacomo,  190. 

Correctors,  100,  215,  309. 

Corruption,  180. 

Council,  Ducal,  97,  98,  214,  215, 

217,  308. 

of  Forty,  214. 

,    Great,    50,    98,   99,    100, 

101-107,    115,    213,  223,    297, 

298,  300-310. 
of  Ten,   115-110,  120,  187, 

214,   210,  217,  218,  219,   209, 

290,    291,    292,    30(5-310,   312. 
of    Three,  218,  224,  300, 

312. 


Crete,  see  Candia. 
Ci'oatia,  30,  39. 
Crotona,  battle  of,  32. 
Crusades,  45,  58. 
Curzola,  38,  118,  137. 
Cyclades,  9,  09,  72. 
Cyprus,  195;  taken  by  Turks, 
257-259. 

Dalmatia,  35,  38,  01,  88,  299, 

314. 
D'Alviano,  general,  204. 
Damascus,  89,  91. 
Daudolo,  Andrea,  admiral,  137, 

138. 

,  Andrea,  doge,  128. 

,  Enrico,  doge,  59,01,  02,  07, 

09,  70,  98,  110,  117,  221. 

,  Francesco,  doge,  123. 

,  Giacomo,  80. 

,  Giovanni,  doge,  103. 

,  Niccolo,  general,  258. 

Dante,  275. 

Daphnusia,  84. 

Debt,  55,  170,  182,  220,  302. 

Deodato,  doge,  19. 

Dias,  navigator,  197. 

Doge,  election  of,  99,  101,  171, 

319-322. 
Donati,  M.,  traitor,  113. 
Donato,    patriarch   of    Grado, 

10. 
,     Leonardo,     doge,     272, 

273. 
Doria,  Gian  Andrea,  258. 

,  Lambo,  137. 

,  Luciano,  140. 

,  Paganino,  139, 141. 

,  Pietro,  147,  149,  154. 

,  Uberto,  admiral,  137. 

Ducal  Palace,  25,  33,  30,  174, 

234-235. 
Ducats,  93,  226. 
Durazzo,  43. 


348 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Eastern  Empire,  11,  18  n.,  20, 

22,  34,  :«,  37,  43,  47,  51,  52, 

53,  54,  55,  57,  (>4,  G(). 
Ecclesiastical  courts,  122,  2()8. 
Edward  I,  of  England,  88. 
Egj'pt,  27,  38,  92,  198. 
Election  of  doge,  99,  101,  174, 

319,  322. 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  England, 

20i). 
Emo,  Angelo,  305. 

,  P.,  147. 

Empire,  Venetian,  G9. 

Eneti,  2. 

England,  50,  88,  92,  12G,  200. 

Este,  O.  d',  124. 

Etruscans,  2. 

Eugene,  Prince,  304. 

Exarchate,  10. 

Ezzelino  da  Romano,  80,  87. 

Falier,  A.,  77. 

Faliero,  M.,  doge,  130-133. 

,  O.,  doge,  51. 

Famagosta,  258-259. 

Feltre,  1G4. 

Ferrara,  54,  118,  192,  231. 

Feudalism,  41. 

Fieschi,    Genoese     admiral, 

145. 
Finances,  55,  226,  297,  302. 
Fine  Arts,  233. 
Flabianico,  D.,  doge,  40. 
Flanders,  trade  with,  92. 

,  Baldwin  of,  69,  71. 

,  barons  of,  58. 

Florence,  124,  168,  169. 
Fornovo,  battle  of,  199. 
Forty,  Civil,  219. 

,  Criminal,  219. 

Foscari,  F.,  doge,  169, 172, 186- 

188,  218. 

,  Jacopo, 187. 

Foscarini,  Antonio,  291,  307. 


Foscarini,  G.,  admiral,  261. 

,  M.,  doge,  313. 

Fossa  Nuova,  battle  of,  134. 

France,  27,  30,  50,  88,  92,  253, 
314-317. 

,  barons  of,  58,  61,  62. 

Francis  I,  of  France,  207,  208, 
210. 

Franks,  20. 

Frederick  I,  Barbarossa,  empe- 
ror, 53,  54,  57,  323. 

II,  of  Sicily,  79-84,  87. 

Friuli,  32,  54,  166,  200. 

Fulgenzio,  friar,  28(),  287. 

Fulk  preaches  Fourth  Crusade, 
58. 

Galbaii,  ducal  family,  39. 
Galleys,  equipment,  142-143. 
Gallipoli,  184. 
Gama,  Vasco  da,  197. 
Garda,  Lake,  2,  181. 
Gastaldi  elected,  6. 
Gaulo,  Galla,  doge,  19. 
Genoa,  50,  79,  81,  82,  84-87, 118, 

129,   130,   133,  135,  137,  138, 

140,  147-157,  193. 
Germany,  88,  JX). 
Gerson,  278. 
Ghibellines,  80. 
Giorgione,  23i>-240,  241. 
Gisello,  conspirator,  ISi. 
Giustiniani,  T.,  148,  149. 
Glass-working,  93. 
Goethe,  241. 
Golden  Book,  106,  298. 
Golden  Bull,  37. 
Goldoni,  231,  311. 
Gonzaga,  124. 
Gozzi,  231. 

Gradenigo,  Marco,  86. 
,  P.,  doge,  103, 112, 117, 118, 

119,  234. 
Grado,  6,  14,  16,  39,  54,  267. 


INDEX 


349 


Greece,  43. 

Greek  Empire,  or  Emperor,  see 

Eastern  Empire. 
Gregory  VII,  pope,  41. 
Grimaldi,  A.,  Genoese  admiral, 

140,  154. 

,  Luca,  Genoese  admiral,  81. 

Grimani,     Antonio,     admiral, 

200. 
Guarco,  Genoese  doge,  145. 
Guardi,  painter,  244. 
Guilds,  93,  320-322. 
Guiscard,  Robei 
,  Roger,  53. 

Haifa,  47. 

Hapsburgs,  88,  134,  316. 
Henry  IV,  of  France,  282. 
Heraclea,  6,  15,  19. 
Heresy,  222. 
Hildebrand,  pope,  41. 
Holland,  247,  294. 
Holy  League,  206. 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  22,  23,  28, 
.  37,  88,  193. 

Houses,  New  and  Old,  102  n. 
Hungary,  51,  88,  118,  130,  134, 

144,  157,  254. 
Huns,  3. 

Hunyadi,  John,  189. 
Huss,  John,  166. 
Hwalderada,  dogaressa,  36. 

Illyria,  3. 

Index,  275. 

India,  50,  72, 197. 

Industries,  Venetian,  93,  168, 

170. 
Innocent  III,  58,  65,  69. 
Inquisition,  222,  275. 
Inquisitors,    on    the    Defunct 

Doge,  100. 
of    State,    the   "Three," 

218,  224. 


Interdict,  118, 192,  204,  277-283. 
Investiture,  8(5. 
Ionian  archipelago,  69. 
Ireland,  126. 
Iron  industry,  93. 
Istria,  9,  30,  34,  315. 

Jen son, 232. 

Jerusalem,  47, 136. 

Jesolo,  15,  20. 

Jesuits,  209,  265,  275,  277,  282, 

284,  300. 
Jingo  party,  167. 
John,  Don,  of  Austria,  260. 
Judiciary  system.  111,  180-181, 

219. 
Julius  II,  201,202,  203,  204,  208, 

269. 
Junta,  214,  224. 
Justinian,  10. 

Kaffa,  227. 
Kairwan,  89. 
Konigsmark,  general,  303. 

La  Feuillade,  duke  of,  302. 
Latin  conquest   of    Constanti- 
nople, 65-67. 

Empire,  81,  84,  87. 

Laws,  110,  221. 
Legnano,  battle  of,  57. 
Leoben,  peace  of,  314. 
Leopardo,  sculptor,  237. 
Lepanto,  battle  of,  259-260. 
Libraries,  232. 
Licentiousness,  229. 
Lido,  61,  149,  299. 
Limoges,  27. 
Lisbon,  198. 
Literature,  230-231. 
Liutprand,  15. 
Lojera,  battle  of,  140. 
Lombard  League,  53. 
Lombardi,  architects,  235-230. 


360 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Ix)mbard8,  14,  18,  20. 
Lombardy,  168. 
Longheiia,  architect,  236,  238. 
Longhi,  painter,  244. 
Longinus,  11. 
Loredan,  Alvise,  189. 
Loredano,  Antonio,  191. 

,  Leonardo,  doge,  203,  239. 

,  Pietro,  doge,  215. 

Lotliair,  33,  36. 

Louis  IX,  of  France,  88. 

Xn,  of  France,  199, 202, 207. 

XV,  of  France,  313. 

II,  of  Hungary,  254. 

Loyola,    founder    of    Jesuits, 

209,  265. 
Luca,  battle  of,  130. 
Lucca,  124, 169. 
Luther,  265. 

Machiavelli,  205. 
Maclodio,  battle  of,  177. 
Magnificence,  Venetian,  325. 
Magyars,  32,  33,  185. 
Malamocco,  6,  19,  20,    21,  22, 

147,  299. 
Malatesta,  condottiere,  177. 
Malghera,  207,  315. 
Malipiero,  heroism  of,  297. 
Mallono,  P.,  Genoese  admiral, 

82. 
Malta,  Knights  of,  295. 
Malvasia,  255. 
Manfredi,  friar,  285. 
Manfredonia,  156. 
Manin,  Lodovico,  doge,  315, 316. 
Mantua,  2, 124,  175. 
Manuel,  Eastern  Emperor,  53, 

54. 
Marignano,  battle  of,  207. 
Marine,  mercantile,  91. 
Marlborough,  35. 
Marriage  of  Adriatic,  322-324. 
Marseilles,  27. 


Marsilio,  279. 

Martinengo,  257. 

Maruffo,  Genoese  admiral,  155, 

156. 
Mastro  militum,  19. 
Maximilian,  emperor,  199,  202. 
Merchants,  Venetian,  229. 
Mexico,  73. 
Michiel,  Antonio,  190. 

,  Domenico,  doge,  48-52. 

,  Vitale  I,  doge,  47. 

,  Vitale  II,  doge,  55. 

Milan,  123,  160, 193,  199,  210. 
Minotti,  297. 

,  G,,  councilor,  315. 

Mint,  226. 

Mocenigo,  Lazzaro,  301. 

,  Luigi,  301. 

,  Pietro,  150. 

,  Tommaso,  doge,  168-172, 

174,  235,  237. 
Mod  on,  303. 
Mohacs,  battle  of,  254. 
Mohammed  II,  70. 
Monegario,  doge,  19. 
Montebaldo,  181, 182. 
Montferrat,    Boniface    of,    60, 

69,  72. 
Moors,  see  Saracens. 
Morals,  229,  311,  312. 
Morea,  303-305. 
Morosini,  Francesco,  doge,  215, 

228,  301,  303,  304,  305. 
,  Michele,    doge,    172-173, 

237. 

,  Ruggiero,  admiral,  137. 

,  T.,    Eastern     patriarch, 

69. 
,  T.,  admiral,  heroism  of, 

300-301. 
Murzuphle,  66. 
Muscorno,  291. 
Mustapha,    Turkish     general, 

259. 


INDEX 


351 


Naples,  199. 

Napoleon   Bonaparte,   314-317. 

Ill,  42,  73. 

Narses,  11. 

Nassi,  vizier,  256. 

Nauplia,  255,  303,  304. 

Naval  wars,  magnitude  of,  142. 

Negropont,  55,  69,  139,  191,  300. 

Nelson,  142. 

New  Civil  Forty,  219. 

Nicopolis,  battle  of,  183. 

Nicosia,  258. 

Normans,  43,  44,  53. 

Novara,  battle  of,  207. 

Office-holders,  222-223. 
Oligarchy,  30,  41,  107-109. 
Olivolo,  or  S.   Pietro  in  Cas- 

tello,  33. 
Ommiyades,  30. 
Orseolo  II,  doge,  37,  233,  322. 

Otto,  39. 

Orso  Ipato,  doge,  18, 

Badoer  I,  doge,  36. 

Ossuna,  duke  of,  288,  289. 
Otto  II,  emperor,  33,  36. 
Ill,  empcor,  39. 

Padua,  2,  4.  54,   80,  123,  124, 

128,  1(K),  161,  204. 

,  University  of,  165,  222. 

Pageants,  319-324. 
Painting,  238-248. 
Palaces,  Venetian,  235-236. 
Paleologos,  Constantine,  183. 

,  Michael,  84,  86,  87. 

Palermo,  89. 
Palestine,  47. 
Palladio,  architect,  236. 
Papacy,  22,   23,    79,   118,   120, 

193,  269,  283,  293,  298. 
Paradise,    Tintoret's    painting 

of,  329. 
Pareuzo,  141. 


Paris,  158. 
Parma,  210. 
Partecipazio,  doge,  25. 
Parthenon,  destroyed,  303. 
Passarovitz,  peace  of,  304. 
Patriarch,  of  Aquileia,  16. 

of  Grado,  14,  16,  18,  267. 

Patrician,  training  of,  223. 
Patron  saint,  importance    of, 

25-27. 
Paul  III,  pope,  210. 

V,  272,  275,  276,  280. 

Veronese,  243-244. 

Pavia,  27 ;  battle  of,  208. 
Pelagius  II,  16. 
Pelestrina,  21,  32,  147. 
Penal  system,  220. 
Pepin,  21,  24. 
Pepper,  90,  93. 
Persia,  46. 

Pesaro,  Giovanni,  doge,  238. 
PestileAce,  39,  55,  129. 
Peter  the  Hermit,  46. 
Petrarch,  135,  232. 
Philip  II,  of  Spain,  209. 

IV,  of  Spain,  246. 

Augustus,  of  France,  64. 

Piacenza,  210. 
Piccinino,  condottiere,  176. 
Pierre,  Jacques,  spy,  288. 
Pirates,  30,  34,  35,  38,  78,  294, 

305. 
Pisani,  G.,  reformer,  310. 

,  Niccolo,  139,  141. 

,  Vettor,  144,  145,  148,  151- 

157. 
Pisans,  47,  50,  79, 169. 
Pitigliano,  general,  204. 
Pitt,  William,  119. 
Pius  II,  189. 

Ill,  201. 

Plague,  Great,  129. 
Po  River,  2,  9. 
Pola,  battle  of,  146. 


\ 


352 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


Polesine,  192. 
Polo,  Marco,  138. 
Polytheism,  Roman   Catholic, 

m. 

Porcelain,  93. 

Portolungo,  141. 

Portugal,  50,  92. 

Postal  service,  27. 

Pregadi,  213. 

Printing,  232. 

Prisons,  220. 

Procurators     of     St.     Mark, 

214. 
Promission,  ducal,  100. 
Protectionism,  227. 
Protestants  in  Venice,  222. 
Providence,  vote  of,  78. 
Prussia,  73. 

Punishments,  English,  220  w. 
Puritans,  4. 

Querini,  family,  72, 112. 

,  admiral,  141. 

,  M.,  conspirator,  113. 

Ragusa,  38. 

Ravenna,  9,  18,  21,  186,  233. 

Reality,     Venetian     painting, 

245-246. 
Reformation,  2G4-266. 
Religious  tolerance,  222. 
Rembrandt,  246,  248. 
Rents,  value  of,  170. 
Rhadagasius,  3. 
Rhodes,  47. 
Rialto,  4,  22. 

Richard  I,  of  England,  64. 
Robespierre,  225. 
Roger  II,  king  of  Sicily,  53. 
Roman,  Church,  16,  17,  26,  29, 

184,  203,  205,  2f)4-267. 

Empire,  fall  of,  3,  7,  8. 

Rome,  46. 

Romulus  Augustulus,  8. 


Rossi,  A.  de',  tyrant  of  Parma, 

124. 
Roveredo,  182. 
Rovigo,  192. 
Rustico  of  Torcello,  25. 
Ruzzini,  Venetian  admiral,  139. 

Sages,  216. 

Sagorninus,  35. 

St.  Mark,  18;  body  brought  to 

Venice,  25. 
St.  Mark's,  Church,  26,  36,  59, 

157,  233-234. 

Place,  33. 

St.  Paul,  279. 

St.  Peter,  18. 

St.  Theodore,  26. 

Saladin,  58. 

Salonica,  184. 

Salt  industry,  10,  93. 

Sammichele,  architect,  236. 

S.  Pietro  in  Volta,  22. 

Sansovino,  architect,  236,  237. 

Sanudo,  Marco,  72. 

Sapienza,  battles  of,  130,  200. 

Saracens,  31,  32,  38,  46,  58,  89, 

209. 
Sarpi,  Era  Paolo,  231,  273-287. 
Savoy,  dukes  of,  175,  288. 
Scaligers  of  Verona,  123,  124, 

128,  160. 
Scamozzi,  architect,  236. 
Scanderbeg,  189. 
Schiavo,  Venetian  captain,  137, 

138. 
Sculpture,  237. 

Scutari  (Albania),  siege  of,  191. 
Selim,  sultan,  256. 
Selvo,  doge,  43,  98. 
Senate,  or  Pregadi,  213,  215. 
Sequin,  226. 

Sette  Pozzi,  battle  of,  8(5. 
Sforza,  condottiere,  177,  194. 
Shakespeare,  242. 


INDEX 


353 


Shipbuilding,  01,  92. 

Shipping,  170. 

Sicily,  38,  43,  46,  79,  80,  193. 

Sigismund,  emperor,  166. 

Signory,  215. 

Silk  industry,  93. 

Slaves,  31,  90,  227. 

Slavonians,  31. 

Slavs,  31. 

Solyman,  sultan,  254-256. 

Soranzo,  C,  doge,  119. 

Sottomarina,  151. 

Spaip,  4(>,  50,  89. 

Spalatro,  38. 

Spanish,  ascendency,  209. 

conspiracy,  288-292. 

Spinola,  admiral,  137. 

Sporades,  69. 

Stampalia,  72. 

Statutes,  221. 

Steno,  M.,  doge,  131,  173. 

Stephen,  king  of  Hungary,  39, 

51. 
Sweden,  294. 
Syria,  38. 

Tana,  227. 

Tasso,  Torquato,  231. 

Taxation,  94. 

Tegalliano,  doge,  16. 

Tenedos,  144,  157. 

Terra  Firma,  possessions  on, 
122,  182,  18(3,  192,  253,  314. 

Theodoric,  8,  9,  10. 

Theodosius,  emperor,  31. 

Thessaly,  69. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  293. 

Tiepolo,    Bajamonte,    conspir- 
acy, 112-115. 

,  G.  B.,  painter,  244. 

,  Jacopo,  doge,  100, 110,  221. 

,  Lorenzo,  doge,  319. 

Tintoret,  241,  242-243,  244,  245, 
246,  329. 

2  a 


Titian,  240-242,  246,  248. 

Toledo,  Pedro  de,  288,  289. 

Torcello,  14. 

Torture,  219. 

Toulouse,  29. 

Trade  routes,  90. 

Trading  fleets,  92. 

Tradonico,  doge,  35. 

Trafalgar,  260. 

Trapani,  battles  near,  85,  136. 

Trebizond,  69. 

Trevisano,  Giovanni,  admiral, 

86. 
Treviso,  37,  124,  157,  164,  204. 
Trial  of  prisoners.  111,  219. 
Tribunes,  6. 
Tribuno,  P.,  doge,  36. 
Trieste,  24,  157. 
Tripoli,  136. 
Turca,  R.  della,  83. 
Turks,  46,  1.%,  183, 184,185, 189- 

191,  200,  254-262,  294,  296-303. 
Tuscany,  36. 
Twelve  towns,  12  n. 
Tyre,    47,    48,    49,    51;    naval 

battle  near,  82. 

United  States,  73. 
Urban  VIII,  287. 

Vaux,  abbot  of,  65. 

Velasquez,  210,  248. 

Veneti,  2. 

Venetia,  original  inhabitants,  2. 

Venice.  Site,  1 ;  original 
inhabitants,  2;  Attila's  in- 
vasion, 4;  tribunes,  6;  Cas- 
siodorus's  description,  9; 
relations  with  Eastern  Em- 
pire, 11,  12;  new  tribunes, 
13;  arrengo,  13;  Lombard 
invasion,  14;  first  doge,  14; 
church  quarrel,  16;  ecclesi- 
astical    independence,      17 ; 


354 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


captures  Ravenna,  18 ;  mastro 
militum  in  place  of  doges, 
19;  dogeship  restored,  19; 
spared  by  Charlemagne,  20; 
Prankish  party,  20-21;  Pe- 
pin's siege,  21;  capital  trans- 
ferred to  Rialto,  22 ;  building 
of  city,  25;  St.  Mark  patron, 
2r)-26;  growth  of  oligarchy, 
.'iO;  war  with  Saracens,  31; 
Istria,  34;  naval  growth,  34; 
Orseolo  the  Great,  37;  con- 
stitutional changes  under 
Flabianico,  40;  war  with 
Guiscard,  44;  First  Crusade, 
47;  siege  of  Tyre,  48-49; 
expansion  of  trade  with  Le- 
vant, 49-50;  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,  53 ;  Emperor  Manuel 
oppresses  Venetians,  54;  dis- 
aster, 55;  creation  of  Great 
Council,  56;  pope  and  em- 
peror at  Venice,  57;  Fourth 
Crusade,  59;  Zara  taken,  64 
conquest  of  Constantinople 
65-66;  partition  of  Eastern 
Empire,  69;  results  of  con 
quest,  72-73;  proposed  re 
moval  of  capital,  75-78 
Frederick  II,  79-80;  quarrel 
with  Genoa  at  Acre,  81 
Genoese  at    Constantinople 

84,  85;  wars  with  Genoese 

85,  8(5;  imperial  growth,  89- 
94 ;  stability,  97 ;  constitu 
tional  changes,  97-100;  Clos- 
ing of  Great  Council,  100-107 
conspiracies  of  Bocconio,  111, 
and  Tiepolo,  112 ;  Council  of 
Ten,  115;  Interdict,  118;  re- 
cuperation, 120;  acquires 
Treviso,124;  colonial  system, 
125-127;  Great  Plague,  129; 
Faliero's     conspiracy,     130; 


naval  wars  with  Genoa,  136- 
140 ;  defeat  at  Sapienza,  141 ; 
coalition  against,  145;  Chiog- 
gian  war,  147-157;  Carra- 
resi  destroyed,  161-163; 
acquisitions  on  Terra  Firma, 
1()4-165  ;  Jingoism,  167 ;  Mo- 
cenigo's  peace  counsel  and 
farewell  address,  168-171 ; 
last  of  medieval  doges,  172- 
174;  Francesco  Foscari,  174; 
Carmagnola  commands  Vene- 
tians, 175;  is  deposed  and 
executed,  178-182;  peace  of 
Cavriana,  182;  wars  with 
Turks,  184;  Foscari's  end, 
187;  peace  with  Turks,  191; 
general  hatred  of  Venice, 
194;  acquisition  of  Cyprus, 
196;  effect  of  discoveiy  of 
Cape  passage  to  India  and 
of  America,  197-199;  defeat 
by  Turks,  200;  League  of 
Cambrai,  202-206;  Spain  in 
the  ascendant,  209-210 ;  Vene- 
tian civilization,  212-249; 
wars  with  Turks,  254-262; 
loss  of  Cyprus  259 ;  battle  of 
Lepanto,  259-260;  Reforma- 
tion, 264-2(J6;  relations  with 
Rome,  267-269;  quarrel  over 
jurisdiction,  272;  Sarpi,  273- 
275;  fifth  Interdict,  277- 
283;  death  of  Sarpi,  287 
Spanish  conspiracy,  288-292 
execution  of  Foscarini,  291 
Candian  war,  296-303;  con- 
quest of  the  Morea,  303 ;  peace 
of  Passarovitz,  304;  conflict 
between  the  Councils,  306- 
310 ;  decline,  311 ;  Bonaparte, 
313;  extinction,  315;  pag- 
eants, 319-324 ;  Venezia's 
message,  325-329. 


INDEX 


355 


Venier,  Antonio,  doge,  173. 

,  Marco,  72. 

,  Sebastiano,  admiral,  doge, 

260. 
Verona,  54,  123,  164. 
Veronese,  Easter,  315. 

,  Paul,  243-244. 

Verrocchio,  Andrea,  237. 

Vespucci,  197. 

Vicenza,  164,  206. 

Vienna,  303. 

Ville-Hardouin,  59,  60,  62,  65, 

66. 
Virgil,  2. 
Visconti,  tyrants  of  Milan,  123, 

130, 135, 140, 144, 160, 161, 167, 

175,  176,  177,  181,  182,  183. 
Visigoths,  3. 
Vittoria,  sculptor,  237. 
Vote  of  Providence,  78. 

Washington,  George,  151. 


Wends,  2. 

William    I,    king    of    Prussia, 
42. 

,  of  England,  66. 

Woolen  trade,  93. 

Wotton,  Sir  Henry,  272,  291. 

Zagonara,  battle  of,  175. 

Zane,  Girolamo,  258. 

Zante,  26. 

Zara,  24,  38,  51,  61,  62,  54,  65, 

118,  120,  156. 
Zeno,  Carlo,  admiral,  145,  151, 

153,  154,  155,  157. 
Zeno,  Renier,  287,  308-310. 
Zenta,  battle  of,  304. 
Ziani,  Pietro,  doge,  75,  221. 
,  Sebastiano,  doge,  55,  99, 

234,  323. 
Zimiskes,  Greek  Emperor,  36. 
Zorzi,  Marino,  doge,  119. 
Zuliani,  B.,  heroism  of,  297. 


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